


Cat Person, Dog Person

by Louie_writes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 'holy shit ur hot' on first sight trope bc i live for that, Aged Up, First Meetings, M/M, Masturbation, Mentions of Death, Slow Burn, Yamaguchi is a dog, and kenma is a cat, cause don't we all thirst for kuroo?, graphic deptiction of volleyball, i don't think i'll kill anyone in this fic though, idk what else to write honestly, let alone a pet, let alone a pet thats based on a character of the show, lots of thirst, mentions of pet death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2019-09-14 11:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16912305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louie_writes/pseuds/Louie_writes
Summary: The first thing Kei thought upon seeing his upstairs neighbour for the first time was ‘hot damn’ the second thing was ‘Tadashi, no!’---------------Alternative Title for this work was "too bad I can't bang my hot neighbour: emotional hang ups edition".





	1. Kei

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> do yall ever get a whacky idea like "lmao, kenma is like a cat and kuroo is liek an overly enthusiastic cat owner and yama is like a dog and tsukki is like a reserved and kinda done dog owner? lmao imagine that" then paired with the idea of "neighbours au but their pets keep them apart" but then yall write the acutal thing and suddenly there is angst everywhere
> 
> thats a summary of my writing style
> 
> enjoy a lot of characer introspective, super supportive pets, and plot convenient stupidity by two of the smartest characters in the series

Tsukishima Kei was never good at making friends.   
  
He wasn’t good at comforting, he wasn’t good at being gentle, he wasn’t good at being considerate.   
  
He never wanted to be either, so that didn’t really bother him. It bothered his parents though. They sent him to a therapist.   
  
‘Attachment issues’, had been her verdict. Her goal was to make Kei connect to the kids at his school, and those in his class.    
  
He didn’t want to connect to them though, he didn’t want to be involved in their petty little quarrels. He saw it everyday; self-assured class failures beating down freckled kids for being ‘dirty faced’, pimpled and freckled kids harassing gingers for having foreign blood, foreign kids bullying smart kids for having good grades and for speaking a bit fancy.   
  
It was pathetic, it was all pathetic.   
  
The therapist had said that building connection was ‘important in his age’, so they went a route that Kei considered cheating: they got a pet.   
  
They went to a shelter, there was another woman there, she was younger, and her face was less cared for. Kei’s parents explained the situation to her, about needing a pet, maybe a dog, she recommended they get a puppy, so the relationship would last longer.   
  
Kei never had anything against puppies.   
  
They went to the puppy section of the shelter. There were three seperate cages with puppies in them, and whelping and growling was coming from the furthest of them.   
  
The shelter woman ran forward in concern, the Tsukishima’s followed her to see the commotion.   
  
There were almost two handful of puppies in the cage, about half of them were uninterested in the commotion, just napping in their own space or lazily playing with toys. About three of them had gathered together though. They were pulling and growling at a fourth dog, which was whelping and wheezing, trying, and failing to get away from them. Kei’s hands clenched into tight fists.   
  
The shelter woman already seemed familiar with the scene, she stormed forward and separated the puppies, she picked up the one that had been attacked and brought it outside of the enclosure.   
  
“They always do this, “ she said, “this one is weak and sickly, he was born prematurely and abandoned by his mother, the others pick on him because he is an easy victim.” The dog was still whimpering in her hands. The sounds he made were high and pathetic. It sounded like he was crying. “Honestly, if we could find him a loving home I would be able to sleep so much better.”   
  
Kei stretched his arms out towards the pathetic dog. “Do you want to hold him?” Kei nodded.   
  
The shelter woman gave the dog over to Kei to hold in his arms. The dog was still shaking, still in shock, and uncertain of the new person holding him.   
  
He felt frail, and weak. Every bone was detectable even through Kei’s thick Hoodie, the fur was scruffed and even missing in places, the ears tucked back and the tail as tucked in as possible. There seemed to be a green shine over the brown fur.   
  
“His name is Tadashi.”   
  
Kei held him tight, Tadashi slowly stopped shivering in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to MangaManiac for beta-ing me. thanks bruh


	2. Kei and Tadashi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now there is a dog.

Tadashi was recovering quickly under Kei’s care. Kei would spoil the dog, and Kei’s mother would frown at him for being indulgent.

During holidays the boy and the dog were inseparable.  
  
His mother had used the word spoiled, the therapist had used the word progress.   
  
Progress was nice, but it was static. Kei had bonded with Tadashi beyond comprehension, but he had yet to open up to other people.   
  
Except his brother.   
  
Kei’s older brother Akiteru had always been his hero, no matter how much Kei loathed his fellow students, he couldn’t help but be excited to go home and play volleyball with his brother.   
  
Akiteru was great, he would play fetch with Tadashi, and teach volleyball to Kei. On top of it all, he was the ace of Karasuno, his high school.   
  
It was not like Kei’s classmates believed him when he mentioned it in school, but that didn’t matter because he would prove them wrong at Akiteru’s next game.   
  
It was his last game, and Akiteru had banned him from coming to any of them, but this one he wouldn’t miss.   
  
———   
  
He didn’t prove them wrong.   
  
Akiteru wasn’t on the field.   
  
He wasn’t even on the bench.   
  
The kid from his class that Kei wanted to prove wrong was shoving a pamphlet in his face, counting down all the people on the team, saying that none of them.   
  
He could see that.   
  
They could all see that.   
  
Except Tadashi, on the ground next to him. He was quite easy to smuggle in, since the dog was still quite small. Tadashi now stood as a protective, growling wall between Kei and the boy from his class.   
  
“Go Karasuno!”   
  
That voice was familiar.   
  
Too familiar.   
  
Kei looked up to the stands, where the players gathered that didn’t make it onto the team, and instead formed a cheering squad.   
  
The middle of the squad showed a familiar face.   
  
A familiar shocked face that made eye contact with Kei.   
  
How pathetic.   
  
The therapist hadn’t liked that at all.


	3. Karasuno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An adventure and a half.

Karasuno, Kei’s eventual high school, had been an experience and a half.   
  
The first notable event was the three-on-three to introduce the first years. The king and the shrimp with that constantly grimacing senpai, Kei and the captains on the other side.   
  
It had been hilariously easy to rile the idiot duo up in the week leading up to the match. Even more so their team during the actual match. The captain had made a comment about his sass, but otherwise hadn’t restrained him.   
  
It had backfired though. It seemed that the lot of them, the king, the shrimp, and the punk, were the kind of people to fight back harder when they got pushed around. Kei didn’t like that kind.   
  
The other team won.   
  
———-   
  
The next notable event was the first lengthy training camp.   
  
Kei hated training camps, they meant extended time away from Tadashi.   
  
Not that he would admit that to anyone, except maybe his parents.   
  
What made the camp so notable was that it wasn’t their first, but their second.   
  
In the first, the other teams had royally beaten them, even though the idiot duo had their super attack, so by the time the second one came around they were all for revenge.   
  
Meaning they all went through great efforts to improve.   
  
Everyone except for Kei.   
  
He didn’t see the point. After all, Akiteru had invested all his time in volleyball, had new moves to show after every competition, came home exhausted but giddy after training camp, had missed dinner more than once to squeeze im extra training, and yet had not even made it onto the official team.   
  
So why try?   
  
On one of the early days, when everyone was doing more work than could be healthy, Kei got lost on the way to the showers, and burst into the private training sessions of one of the opposing teams.   
  
Nekoma’s captain, Kai, didn’t mind his presence at all, neither did his vice captain, Yaku.   
  
Kei saw the entire Nekoma team doing extra training, which startled him. His own team, aside from him, was doing it too of course, but he wasn’t quite so aware that it was a common practice with the others as well.   
  
He asked the captains about that behaviour, and about their opinion on striving for the best, when you will always be outdone by somebody along the way.   
  
Kei feared investing time and effort, when it could all fail because of one person.   
  
One team.   
  
One game.   
  
The vice captain, Yaku, had just scoffed. “It’s not about being the best player in the world,” he said, “it’s about beating the guy in front of you.”   
  
Captain Kai had recommended not taking the sport too seriously, and instead enjoy it. “It’s just a game.”   
  
Funny, that’s exactly what Kei would tell the idiot duo whenever they got too riled up.   
  
In the end they recommended the youtube channel of their old captain, he made them a blocking force to be reckoned with, and put tutorials of them online.   
  
Kei watched almost the entire channel that night.    
  
———   
  
Kei’s speciality had always been blocking, it came somewhat naturally with his height and his position. He was known for it.   
  
Never this known.   
  
In a game against Miyagi’s powerhouse school, subscribing to the Youtube channel “Volleyball with Tetsu” had payed off.   
  
He blocked their ace.   
  
Tsukishima Kei, single handedly blocked Japan’s third strongest ace.   
  
It had been thrilling.   
  
His team and the crowd had cheered even more than him.   
  
Akiteru had cried.   
  
Kei had thought that would be it, volleyball was fun at times, he could aid his team, they qualified for nationals, life goes on.   
  
But that wasn’t it. There was a training camp, for promising young players, hosted by Shiratorizawa. The shrimp was there too, though he wasn’t supposed to be. Kei wished he could have smuggled in Tadashi.   
  
The camp was interesting. He learned new things and seeing the shrimp banned from practice because his existence, as well as the fact that he snuck into camp made him a thorn in the eye of the coach, was fun, but overall it was difficult.   
  
It was much more demanding than Karasuno practice, and everyone was talented and tall. Hard working too.   
  
The shrimp was all over the place, making friends with everyone. He asked for advice and gave it to those that needed it. He was improving drastically even though he was banned from official practice. Kei felt like he was being left behind.   
  
So he stepped up his game.   
  
After all, he didn’t have all that height just to be outdone by a shrimp in a sport favouring tall people.   
  
———-   
  
Second year was an adventure as well. Everyone was still giddy and riled up from the performance they put forth in nationals.   
  
They vowed to see Nekoma there again, being age old rivals. Captain Ennoshita turned out to be significantly more cruel, and scary than Captain Daichi had ever been.   
  
Kei was forced to step up his game again.   
  
In the midst of all the tumult he found a new artist to listen to. Their name was Nekon, and they played wonderful, soothing music on acoustic guitars with deep, velvet vocals. All their music had a certain sweet and mellow tone to them.   
  
The first song Kei heard of them was called “Me, my cat, and I”. He never really understood what it was about, but he could strongly relate to it with his relationship to Tadashi, and lack thereof with anyone else.   
  
He just never truly connected.   
  
Even if his fellow second years always included him in get togethers.   
  
Well, it’s not like he made an effort to hang out or bond with them, but sometimes there was no escaping the shrimp, the king, and their anxious manager.   
  
Kei found that Yachi had a hard enough time managing the two of them, he didn’t know how she was supposed to deal with the punk ace and the loud libero, let alone five first years, now that Shimizu was gone.   
  
He had brought up getting a second manger again, she had called the thought ‘way too tempting’.   
  
———   
  
By the end of the year they made it to nationals again. The punk ace picked up their captain and spun him around. Kei almost expected them to make out then and there, but their spinning was interrupted by the other third years jumping on them and making a doggy pile. The rest of the team joined. The shrimp and Yachi made him and the King join too. Kei was certain he had gotten some bruises.    
  
——-   
  
The third years graduated, everyone was proud, and sad, and hugging, and Kei disapproved of all of it. He held back on the comments though because there were some things you didn’t say during goodbye’s.   
  
What happened after was what disturbed him the most.   
  
“Tsukishima, please, for the love of god, step up, please!” Yachi said with tears running down her face in waterfalls. “Hinata and Kageyama are fighting over which one of them will be Captain, and I know that the one that will lose will be Vice. Please! Please, be captain instead. I can deal with one of them, but not with them both. Please be captain, Tsukishima!”   
  
It was always with those damn tears.   
  
———   
  
Tsukishima applied for captain and there was surprisingly little fuss about it from the team. There was probably a collective agreement that if both the king and the shrimp were in leadership roles the team would crash and burn.   
  
The things you do for the people you play volleyball with.   
  
———   
  
There was another song Nekon brought out that year that really hit home with Kei, labelled “(apparently) two is a company”.   
  
This song had added piano tunes and another delicate sounding instrument that Kei couldn’t quite identify but it really hit a spot with Kei.   
  
From what Kei could gather from listening to all of Nekon’s songs on repeat for a full year is that they got left by lovers a lot. “Two is a company” seemed to tackle the issue that Nekon always felt like the third wheel in his own relationship. Unnecessary. In the way.

  
Kei also felt like he was one person too much, though the relationship wasn’t his own.   
  
“Come on, Yama-yama, it’s not that hard.”   
  
“It’s math, of course it is hard.”   
  
Kei was stuck tutoring the shrimp and the king again. Or, in this case, the idiot duo.   
  
The shrimp had grasped the concept of a math Formula before the king had, so the shrimp saw it as his personal duty to hold it over his head.   
  
As if the shrimp was smarter than the king in any other way.   
  
“Maybe I should tutor you, I’m way more intelligent than you are after all.”   
  
“Shut up, idiot, it’s only a math Formula. I could remember way more of the english vocabulary today.”    
  
“Well I could remember way more english grammar yesterday.”   
  
The thing about spending any time with the idiot duo was that they were easy. They had an easy, fun, weirdly supportive relationship that strongly overshadowed any quips and insults they threw at each other.   
  
It was sickening.   
  
“You don’t even know how to write ‘grammar’”.   
  
“Shut up. It’s a hard word, and it’s not like you can write it either.”   
  
The idiot duo was the kind of couple that were aggressively in each others face about their love and affection, but none the less oblivious that their feelings are returned by the other. Or even that such feelings exist in the first place.   
  
Everyone else was painfully aware though.   
  
“Poor Idiot-yama is having a bad day today, maybe we should call it quits so your brain can recover.”   
  
“Maybe I would do better if you didn’t distract everybody with stupid comments, dumbass.”   
  
Kei was very tempted to yell ‘just fuck already’ into their faces and have it be done with.   
  
——   
  
They got to meet Nekoma at nationals again, in one of the early rounds too. Kei had developed somewhat of a rivalry with their Captain Lev. He was talented, fast, and self assured like the shrimp, which would be reason enough for Kei to take him down, but to top it all off he was even taller than Kei himself, and specialised in blocking as well, so Kei took the offence personally.   
  
Nekoma won that match. Kei was more upset about it than he expected to be. The shrimp was more at peace with it than Kei expected him to be.   
  
——   
  
They graduated. There was hugs and tears and way too many promises and way too much family.   
  
Kei had seen the idiot duo kiss before (they became a thing during nationals), he had even seen them kiss through thick tears before, but something about that kiss cut deep within Kei. The two had gotten different offers from different teams at opposite ends of Japan, and something about the distance that would now be between them was jarring even to Kei.   
  
Hitoka went to the same University as Kei, though she and her CEO mom could afford much nicer apartments than Kei’s middle class family.   



	4. There he is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gee woo, I wonder who the hot guy from upstairs is...

“(I don’t show it, but I have quite the) fragile little heart” was the song that came out when Kei started university.   
  
He played it on repeat as he moved into his new Apartment.   
  
Kei had gone to Tokyo to study Biology with a focus on Herpetology. Akiteru had teased him about not getting over his dinosaur obsession. Kei wanted to deny it but had to admit that Akiteru was right. He didn’t say that out loud though.   
  
Akiteru had actually helped with moving, or at least, had lent his way too tiny car. The last thing that Kei took with him was Tadashi.   
  
Hitoka had moved to the other side of town, so they wouldn’t actually meet much, even if they  _ were _ the kind to meet up regularly and hang.   
  
She would probably see the shrimp more than him, and he was half the country away.   
  
Kei didn’t mind. They shared a class, even though they were different majors, but he realised that High School volleyball had spoiled him with regular social interactions, as well as people that knew him and were willing to put up with him.   
  
He had checked out the University’s volleyball team. He wasn’t certain if he could integrate.   
  
He didn’t show it, but it lay sour on his soul.   
  
——   
  
The first thing Kei thought upon seeing his upstairs neighbour for the first time was ‘hot damn’ the second thing was ‘Tadashi, no!’   
  
Kei had just come back from his morning walk with Tadashi, and was trying to open the door to his apartment, when a tall guy with dark bed hair and a massive moving box came down the stairs.   
  
Kei was too distracted by that sharp jawline and strong arms to notice Tadashi going off at the guy in time. Tadashi sprinted in between the guys’ legs as he was on the last two steps of Kei’s story, barked at him aggressively, and made the guy stumble and drop his things.   
  
Dozens of magazine slid all over the floor as the guy fell flat on his face.   
  
“Bad Tadashi, no!” Kei yelled, at the still barking Tadashi, and pulled him by the collar into the apartment. “I’m sorry, he doesn’t usually do that.” Well, that was a lie, Tadashi had always been very vocal. “Do you need help?” Kei asked, already sitting down to collect magazine’s and hopefully get a closer look at the hot neighbour.   
  
“Nah, I’m fine. I got a cat who’s always under my feet when I carry stuff. I’m honestly surprised this is the first time it made me land on my face.” The guy’s chuckle and lopsided grin were unfair. Kei went back to the magazine’s to distract himself.   
  
He had a good armful collected already, and he looked at the lot of them on the ground. “These are all national geographics.” Kei stated, impressed.   
  
“Yea, I have a collection.” It looked like it. There was a lot, some dating way back, even to before Kei was born, and they were all in good shape. The guy must really care for them. “I first started collecting them when I was ten and discovered my love for science, especially chemistry.” There was something incredibly attractive about the way his bed hair fell into his face, and the way his eyes looked somewhat sleazy. Kei avoided his gaze again. He saw the exact issue that first made him fall in love with dinosaurs, and he saw a few more of the ones he consumed to learn more.   
  
“I study biology,” Kei held up an issue titled ‘Herbivores’, “because of these.”   
  
The hot guy had a fond look on his face, he looked around until he found the issue he was looking for. A magazine from more than 15 years back.    
  
“I’m doing post-grad in Chemistry because of this.”   
  
Kei chuckled. They were similar, the hot neighbour and him, maybe he wouldn’t have such a hard time bonding in University after all.   
  
The guy started putting the magazine’s back into the moving box.   
  
“I’ve been collecting them since I was little, but the girlfriend doesn’t like them and wants them to go.” Great, Kei is finally interested in someone and they’re already taken. “I wanted to at least bring them back to my parent’s place, but she’s allergic to dust, so they all have to get dumped.”   
  
This couldn’t be true, they are rare treasures. “I’ll take them!” Kei said quickly, and louder than he was used to. The guy looked up in surprise. “I mean, if they’re gonna get dumped anyway, I might as well take them. It would be a shame to just let the effort go to waste.”   
  
Grins that are simultaneously fond and crooked should be forbidden. “That sounds good.”   
  
They collected the last of the magazine’s and brought them into Kei’s flat. Kei carrying the Carton, and the Neighbour holding the door open.   
  
“I’m Kuroo, by the way. I live in the apartment above yours.”   
  
“Tsukishima.” Kei said, putting the box down.   
  
“Alright, see you around, Tsukki.” Kuroo said smiling and closing the door behind Kei.   
  
Kei felt weird suddenly having a nickname. He turned to Tadashi who still looked displeased and said, “If I didn’t know better I would say he was flirting”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I have IRL real life fic of my own on AO3, this feels weird....... 
> 
> thanks for visiting though :D I hope you have a wonderful day and that you see someone hot on your way home <3


	5. The Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because the girlfriend is the most important part of any relationship.

Kuroo Tetsuro looked at the half empty bookshelf that now graced his wall in a sad sort of fashion. He felt weird without his treasure, he had had it since his mom died when he was seven, and his dad had them move to his grandparents. It had been slowly building in size with every new issue that came out, and more rapidly so when he started buying older issues online starting in high school.   
  
The book shelf looked significantly less empty now than when Tetsuro had gone to class that morning. Ayumi had evidently already spread her stuff throughout it, no less than a day after Tetsuro’s most valued possessions had to make way for a cleaner living space.   
  
A treacherous thought of ‘she doesn’t even live here’ sneaked itself into Tetsuro’s brain, before he shook it off and decided to be more positive about the situation.   
  
_ I should be glad that my wonderful girlfriend is keeping my apartment clean even if she doesn’t live here. This must mean that she is considering moving in, doesn’t it? I should be grateful for that, and she is honest to me too, not many people can say that about their girlfriends. We have established that sort of trust _ .   
  
There we go, all better. Tetsuro’s opinion regarding the new change in his life had improved, and he felt significantly less bad about his girlfriend.   
  
_ You let her treat you terribly _ , said a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Akaashi, but if he were in an habit of listening to Akaashi they would still live together.   
  
It was time for new thoughts, a new perspective. It’s time to go for a run.   
  
Tetsuro put on his running gear, set his ipod on shuffle, said goodbye to his cat Kenma, who blessed him with a disinterested meow, and went outside.   
  
On his way down the stairs he met his new neighbour again, a feast for the eyes compared to the grumpy old man that lived there before.   
  
Tsukishima nodded at him in greeting, but quickly averted his eyes, seemingly shying away from eye contact. Tetsuro found it cute that a guy this tall, maybe even a few inches taller than Tetsuro himself, could still cower in nerves and blush when startled.   
  
Tetsuro had a good feeling in his gut when he started running.   
  
——   
  
Tetsuro’s good feeling disappeared the second he came back.   
  
“Fuck off you stupid cat. This is my stuff. No. Mine!”   
  
Ayumi was fighting with Kenma again. Her leaning over the kitchen counter, eating a Yoghurt, and Kenma trying to steal from it. Eventually she just pushed him off, quite drastically, and continued eating undisturbed.   
  
Now, Kenma was a cat by all means, and survived falls from kitchen counters without any damage. Tetsuro knew since that was usually the height from which he dropped Kenma when putting him down. Other people, including Akaashi and Bokuto, had shoved Kenma off kitchen counters or tables as well. It was understandable, because Kenma could be quite nosy, and sometimes needed some drastic measures taken against him to stop, but something about the incident that just happened bothered Tetsuro.   
  
He went up to where Kenma was standing on the ground near his food bowl, and scratched the little guys head.    
  
“Hey, are you alright? Did you get hurt?” Kenma purred, he liked getting his head scratched. He seemed alright. “Don’t steal Ayumi’s stuff, okay? She needs it.”   
  
He stood up to greet his girlfriend. “Good morning hun, how are you?” He said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and taking some iced coffee out of the fridge.   
  
“You love that damned cat more than me.” Ayumi stated. Tetsuro turned around and chuckled, until he saw the genuinely poisonous look in her eye.   
  
“What?”   
  
“See? You’re not even denying it.”   
  
“I just don’t know what you mean, hun.”   
  
Ayumi swung an arm out violently, point between Kenma and Tetsuro. “You come in and the first thing you do is see if the cat is alright. You don’t even acknowledge me until the cat is all done and cared for.”   
  
Tetsuro was stunned, he didn’t know what to say at first. “I-” He swallowed. “It’s just that Kenma has been in my life for seven years, he’s an old friend.”  _ I’ve known you a little less than a month _ , was an unspoken end to that sentence. Tetsuro didn’t want to come off as rude to the girl he loved.   
  
“I wonder how you ever got a girlfriend with priorities like that.”   
  
“You’re my girlfriend.”   
  
“And sometimes I wonder why.” The coldness in her face let Tetsuro shiver. He knew exactly what sort of situation he was in, had been in it several times in his life: the verge of a break up.   
  
Tetsuro started to panic, he needed to do something, anything, to make Ayumi happy, before she could leave him like the others had done. What did she want though?   
__   
_ Less Kenma _ .   
  
He couldn’t do that. Kenma had been the one constant in his life entering uni, him and Akaashi and Bokuto. He couldn’t do without any of them.   
  
So he had to beg, get her something she likes and apologise for neglecting her.   
  
She was always weak to fancy gifts. A necklace, some flowers, some chocolate. Preferably a public place to beg for forgiveness, so she would feel loved. It would be mortifying for Tetsuro, but it would be worth it in the end.   
  
“Wait here, I’ll make it up to you.” He said, grabbing his coat.   
  
He immediately hung it up again though, remembering that he was wearing sweat soaked clothing and in desperate need of a shower.   
  
As he took his clothes off in his room he heard the front door closing, and as he quickly cleaned himself in the shower a thought overcame him.   
  
Akaashi had shoved Kenma of tables and countertops more than once in his life, but the next time they would see each other again Akaashi would always make it a point to scratch Kenma behind the ears, and Kenma never missed an opportunity to sit on Akaashi’s lap.   
  
Ayumi only ever petted Kenma when she was taking photos for instagram, and Kenma was never found near her without Tetsuro or food being there.   
  
Here Tetsuro was thinking bad thoughts again. He had to think about why he loved her, why she was a good girlfriend.   
  
They had met through mutual friends at a get together, she had laughed at his jokes in an angel-like sort of way, and had flipped her hair over her shoulder so enticingly. Tetsuro had asked her out that day. Ayumi had shown off to her friends how quickly she scored a date.   
  
Tetsuro thought fondly of their first few dates. He would take her to Korean barbeque, then Karaoke, and then laser tagging. Even to the planetarium once.   
  
He smiled fondly as he remembered their dates, they had really hit it off. They had joked with each other, and talked about school and after the planetarium about life and the greatness of things. He remembered how underdressed they were with the cold whether, and how it had been a special viewing late at night on a holiday, so nothing was open where they could have warmed themselves.   
  
That was Tetsuro’s favourite moment in their relationship. There was something genuine and honest about that moment right there, where they talked about how insignificant they were in the greatness of the universe, and how future aspirations seemed much less scary in comparison.   
  
Tetsuro had been looking forward to more moments like that in their relationship. Ayumi, seemingly, had been looking forward for more presents.   
  
_ No, no, no Tetsuro. She has firmly established a place in your life, and she teases you because she is playful _ .   
_   
_ __ You make excuses for her , said a voice in his head that sounded too much like Bokuto. Tetsuro told that voice to shut up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for MangaManiac again for Bea'ing.


	6. Volleyball?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To join the volleyball club or to not join, that is the question

Kei had been checking out the University’s volleyball club.  
  
The experience was completely different to high school, it had a much more lax and unorganised feel to it than a high school club could ever have.   
  
He had talked to the captain, who said that they were usually at a third to half capacity because studies and work usually got in the way of training.   
  
Despite all, there seemed to be obvious groups of friends, and an obvious overall camaraderie between all the people in the club. The most hard working seemed to be a broad and loud guy practicing spikes in the back of the gymnasium. Celebrating loudly whenever he managed one. Which was most of the time.   
  
Kei was uncomfortably reminded of a certain senpai of his.   
  
When the loud person ran over to his setter after a particularly satisfying spike to pick him up and spin him around he was reminded even harder. Kei quickly looked away.   
  
There was some training and exercises they did as a group, but overall there was a lot of free training that reminded him of training camp.   
  
The loud guy and his setter always stayed towards the back of the gym, sometimes trying to coax other people into their training, but usually not succeeding.   
  
The captain asked Kei if he wanted to join the club, Kei said he’d think about it.   
  
——   
  
“Tell me why I study this again?” Whined Hitoka into her notes.   
  
“So you can support the king and the shrimp when they’ll eventually join the national team.” Kei answered while continuing to modify his own notes undisturbed.   
  
“I know that I _said_ that but who says that I _will_ ?” Hitoka looked up and stared ahead. “It’s already so hard to get into the national team as a player, but there is so many playing positions, and the national team doesn’t need more than one manager, maybe two. God, it will be impossible to get a position there, and then Shoyou and Tobio will be disappointed in me and break up all contact. And then my mom will see me as the disgrace that I am and pretend we’re not related. And then the stories of my failures will go ahead of me and I will never get a job again and end up homeless-”   
  
“Hitoka.” Interrupted Kei her ventilating. “You’re getting ahead of yourself again.”   
  
Hitoka blinked herself back into reality, then looked at Kei and nodded strongly.   
  
Kei had helped her through more than one panic attack like this. He didn’t know why it worked, but he was grateful it did. His mom had a panic attack once, and his way of talk didn’t get through to her at all. It was probably the scariest day in Kei’s life.   
  
“Besides, you can always crash with me and Tadashi if you ever become that much of a failure and need a place to stay.”   
  
She beamed at him. “Thanks, Kei.” Then she leaned under the table to scratch Tadashi under the chin where he liked it. “You guys will always have an open door for me, huh?”   
  
Kei was glad to have her as a friend.   
  
——   
  
He saw the hot neighbour on his way home.   
  
The hot neighbour had spilled his groceries in front of Kei’s door. There was a lot of them.   
  
“Do you need help with that!?” He yelled over Tadashi’s barking. Hot neighbour tried to save the most delicate of his groceries from Tadashi’s lashing out. Kei quickly threw him inside and helped him pick them up.   
  
“Milk, butter, eggs. Are you making a cake?”   
  
Kuroo smiled fondly with an arm full of cherries and cream.   
  
“Yea. I need to apologise to my girlfriend, and she really loves fruit cake.” He threw a sheepish smile at Kei. “Now I only need to learn how to bake cake without setting the kitchen on fire.”   
  
Kei hated himself, he really, really hated himself for not having any impulse control apparently. “I know how to make cake.”   
  
Kuroo looked surprised at that. Truth was, Kei always had a sweet tooth, and not having friends left him with a lot of time to spend in the kitchen with just him, some batter, usually Tadashi, and occasionally Akiteru.   
  
“I can show you how to make really nice cake.”   
  
——   
  
Kei helped Kuroo carry mostly loose groceries into his apartment. It looked exactly like his own, which made sense since they lived in the same building directly above each other. What he didn’t expect was loud hissing directed at him coming from the living room entry.   
  
A white, ginger, and brown tabby cat stood in the doorway and hissed aggressively at him, back bowed and all hairs standing up. Kei had never felt as intimidated by something that weighted less than 10 kg.   
  
Kuroo quickly put his groceries on the ground and carried his cat away. Probably into some enclosure like the bedroom or something.   
  
Kei started to unload groceries onto the kitchen counter.   
  
“Sorry, he isn’t usually like that.” Kuroo said, coming back in. “I really don’t know what’s gotten into him.” He said apologetically.   
  
Kei’s nerves had settled a bit while he was unpacking all the food. “It’s fine, he’s probably smelling Tadashi on me.” Kuroo looked at him in confusion. “My dog.”   
  
Kuroo nodded his head in understanding. “Ah, the loud one.”   
  
Kei got flustered again, he hadn’t gotten flustered this easily since Captain Ennoshita had decided that he hadn’t invested enough effort into volleyball, and had consequently send his punk ace, and too excitable libero to be his teachers. They demanded he call them senpai, he refused.   
  
“I’m sorry he’s such a menace.”   
  
Kuroo waved him off. “Nah, it’s fine. I obviously have no room to talk.” He said pointing in the direction he came from, which was where the bedroom was. If this was Tadashi there would uninterrupted scratching and loud whining. Kei probably wouldn’t get his security deposit back.   
  
Kei looked down at the two packets of flour.   
  
“Tadashi is generally very loud, but the landlord doesn’t like that. I’m scared he’s gonna take Tadashi away from me.”   
  
“I understand,” Kei looked up at Kuroo in surprise, who was casually leaning onto the other side of the kitchen counter, pointing towards the direction of the bedroom behind him. “ He isn’t particularly fond of Kenma either, and that guy is quiet as can be. The rental contract _says_ ‘allows pets’ but I don’t think he _means_ it.”   
  
Kei chuckled. “That may be true. So what had you planned with all this?”   
  
“Alright so…”   
  
——   
  
Kei blessed every decision that had lead him to this very moment in his life because Kuroo took a bite out of his black forest cake and made a sound like orgasming.   
  
Kei almost responded in kind.   
  
He caught himself though.   
  
“Tsukki, this is amazing. Where did you learn that?”   
  
Kei shrugged. “Mostly youtube tutorials and experience to be honest. I usually bake for my family though.”   
  
“Shit, this is amazing,” Kuroo said around a mouth full of food, “I should hire you. Have you ever considered opening a bakery or something?”   
  
Kei shook his head, feeling a smile tug at his lips. “No, my real love lies with reptiles and amphibians.”   
  
Kei looked up and saw that Kuroo had stopped mid chew, still holding a slice of cake in his hand. He had a fond, maybe even proud look on his face, and his probably chronically hooded eyes gave the entire picture an undeserving beauty.   
  
“What?”   
  
“Nothing.” Kuroo said, and shoved the rest of the cake in his face in a decidedly unsexy way.   
  
——   
  
Kei didn’t even think about Kuroo or cake or hooded eyes for the entire next day, because it was his longest most grueling class schedule, and he honestly hadn’t had the time to ponder about handsome faces, even if he had wanted to.   
  
He was reminded though when he opened the door to his apartment and saw a folded paper on the floor that someone must have just slipped under the slit.   
  
He opened it, it was from Kuroo.   
  
‘She loved it.’   
  
Ah, that’s right. The point of yesterday was to help Kuroo make up with his girlfriend.   
  
Kei could hear Tadashi excitedly running towards the entry door, crashing into a lot of furniture and probably walls on the way there, howling and barking in excitement.   
  
Kei let his school bag and himself sink to the ground and leaned against the door, legs spread out in front of him, arms open to embrace Tadashi.   
  
“Feelings suck.” He said into Tadashi’s fur.


	7. Maybe the owls were right (maybe)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen to your friends kids.

Bokuto had called, had said he needed Tetsuro at the club more, Tetsuro agreed to show his face next time.

He hadn’t come lately, because unsurprisingly, postgrad took up a lot of his time.

Akaashi had not very subtly asked whether he was still with that girl. Tetsuro had agreed.

He knew Akaashi didn’t like her, didn’t like most of Tetsuro’s partners really, but it’s not like everybody can find true love in high school like the two of them.

Aside from that, things were going great with Ayumi. She had loved the cake, given Tetsuro the biggest kiss on the face, promptly put a slice of it on instagram ‘to show off the amazing boyfriend’, and had spent the rest of the day rolling around in bed with him exchanging smooches and giggling.

Tetsuro hadn’t felt that relaxed and happy in a long time. One of the reasons being that Postgrad may take up a lot of time from Tetsuro, but postgrad had only just started for Ayumi, so she had a lot more time on her hands than he did, and he felt like he was abandoning her in favour of studying all day. He usually remedied that by giving her little gifts throughout the week, a key-chain or a coffee here or there, but she usually gave him a kiss on the nose and said that wasn’t necessary.

Tetsuro was honestly grateful to have her, so Akaashi and his constant negativity could stuff it.

Tetsuro and Ayumi had a whole date day planned today. She had slept over at his house, they were so content just lying in bed and fooling around that they barely got out of it to get breakfast at that really nice cafe just off campus. They had a stroll through the local park on the way back, talking about life and ambitions again like how they had done back during planetarium Date, and Tetsuro fell in love with her all over. They went home for lunch and Ayumi made them an absolutely lovely chilli, because she could cook like a goddess.

Currently, Tetsuro tried to concentrate on his studies, but it was really hard with Ayumi right next to him. She did post grad in mathematics, and while Tetsuro understood the subject matter, having to suffer through it for chemistry, he was absolutely in awe at the way she handled numbers and letters and the greek alphabet. She had her work spread out on the table, mumbling about numbers and equations to herself, hair tucked behind her ears and serious, concentrated eyes behind reading glasses. She was stunning.

She must have noticed him staring at her, because she looked up from her sheets and smiled at him. He noticed that he was already smiling back.

After a few hours of solid work (and some staring) they planned to replicate the black forest cake. Ayumi had announced it to her instagram followers the day before, intending to do a life stream when they would start at 3:45pm.

Tetsuro, in his juvenile stupidity, had seen nothing wrong with it, but as he spread out the ingredients on the kitchen counter, and Ayumi set up her phone camera on a stand overlooking the kitchen, he realised his big mistake.

Outside of a chemistry lab Tetsuro was not allowed in a kitchen, and that for good reason.

Usually that reason was that he tended to experiment with food, and made frankly uneatable creations, another was that he tended to get distracted having tastes of what he cooked, and had often let something burn on the stove in favour of eating something else. Point of the matter was that he had absolutely zero cooking skill, let alone baking. He could roughly replicate what Tsukishima from downstairs had done, but he had done shit like _candied the cherries_ , and Tetsuro knew that you needed concentration, precision, and experience for that.

Ayumi did her introduction to the camera, pointing at herself and then Tetsuro when she introduced them. Tetsuro smiled sheepishly at the audience. Hopefully he would just develop some insane baking talent out of nowhere.

——

This was insane. Ayumi was insane for having the idea, Tetsuro was insane for going along with it, and Tsukishima was the most insane for being able to pull it off in the first place.

Tetsuro didn’t know what the batter was supposed to look like but it wasn’t that.

Ayumi had commented on him being quiet, he said he was just concentrating.

“Oh, look, hun, we have 55 viewers!” Great, fifty plus people had tuned in to watch Tetsuro fail at baking and having to explain to his girlfriend in front of a live audience that he hadn’t actually made the apology cake.

The batter had caught on fire, he didn’t know how but it happened. He quickly grabbed a dish towel and suffocated the flames.

He turned to Ayumi and her camera.

“Souffle.”

——

It had to be taken out of the oven. He didn’t want to take it out of the oven. He didn’t want to taste it and have it be mediocre at best, when the expectation was set for orgasm inducing.

Well, it was fine, he thought to himself, pulling the cake out with one dish towel in each hand, the cake had to cool anyway, and there was still cream to make and tops to decorate and-

“Let me have a taste.” A too quick hand grabbed a piece of the hot cake before Tetsuro could put it down and stop her from doing so.

“Ouch, Ouch! Hot!”

Tetsuro chuckled nervously. “That’s what you get for being greedy and eating cake straight out of the oven.”

Camera in one hand, and the other in front of her mouth, Ayumi chewed on her piece of cake contemplatively.

“This taste different from last time… it’s kind of… dry.”

Tetsuro wrung his hands nervously. “That must just be because you burned your tongue.”

She shook her head and scrunched her face. “No… and it’s also… salty.”

Salty? When the fuck had salt gotten into any of this? There wasn’t anything salty in the recipe, and they had done everything exactly the same as with Tsukishima. Some small faux pas excluded.

He took a piece of cake. “Ouch”, he said burning his tongue as well.

She was right, it was noticeably dry, and he could taste the tiniest bit of salt.

He slouched.

“I must have gotten lucky last time.”

Ayumi wasn’t having it, she put her phone back on the stand, the audience beautifully capturing the humiliating scene, and gestured at him to elaborate before crossing her arms.

She knew, she had found out, she had realised that there was something off about the cake.

Maybe she would forgive him if he told her the truth. It was always important to open up to the people that you loved. He took a deep breath.

“I had help with the last cake.”

Ayumi raised an eyebrow. “Help? Really? That’s it? A little ‘help’ can raise your cake making skills from garbage to magnificent?”

Wow, he knew his cake wasn’t the best, and he knew that Ayumi was obviously pissed, but calling his cake garbage right in front of his face and in front of an audience was rather harsh.

“They did most of the work actually. I mostly just watched and taste tested.”

“Who was it?”

“The new neighbour from downstairs.” Tetsuro said without meeting her face.

“Well I hope she was hot.”

That surprised him. “Hun, it wasn’t a girl. Hell, I barely know the guy!”

“What’s it matter?! You’re pan anyway!” She was screeching.

“You said you liked it when we started dating!” _She’s fetishising your sexuality_ , Akaashi said in his head. Akaashi couldn’t keep himself out of Tetsuro’s damn private life even if he wasn’t there, could he?

“Well it was hot then-” _Fetishising_ “-but now I don’t know if you’re cheating on me or not!” He couldn’t help but notice the chat of the livestream absolutely exploding behind Ayumi.

“Why would I cheat on you!? You’re more than enough for me!!”

“More than enough, huh?!” She said, taking her phone and storming out.

“Hun, no, I-” She slammed the bedroom door shut behind her, and locked the door.

He couldn’t help but think of his security deposit. “This is still my place, you know?!”

“This is our place now!” Came muffled from behind the door.

“You don’t pay any rent here!”

“I wouldn’t have to if you truly loved me!”

That gave Tetsuro whiplash. He didn’t know how to respond to that.

“See?!”

He went back to the kitchen to collect himself. He leaned onto the kitchen counter.

_She doesn’t mean it, she is just angry. She doesn’t mean it, she is just angry. She doesn’t mean it, she is just angry._

He took another piece from the cake, significantly cooler now. It was even more dry than before, and still slightly salty.

——

Tetsuro had spent a good half an hour just slouching on the kitchen floor and scrolling down his phone. He had made the mistake of going on instagram and seeing all of Ayumi’s vague posts about betrayal. He put his phone down.

He had to do something to cleanse his mind of the sadness, something to deal with the depression.

He went into the living room, got his guitar, said a short ‘bye’ to his bedroom door without getting a response. He quickly scratched Kenma’s stomach who was lying on the couch, grabbed his coat and left.

It was just before dinner time, and it was a particularly cold day, so there weren’t that many people in the park. Tetsuro’s fingers were so cold he barely felt them pulling at the guitar strings, and he regretted not having taken a scarf and hat with him, but just sitting on that bench and playing a few tunes was absolutely worth it.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there when he heard loud barking rapidly approaching him and eventually dog claws scratching at his knees.

“Tadashi, no! Stop!” That voice did something nice and soothing to Tetsuro’s mind that it really shouldn’t.

He looked up from his assaulted knees to see the cute neighbour from down stairs clipping the protesting Tadashi to a leash, and keeping that leash as short as possible as he stood up to full length.

An impressive full length.

Long coat, down to his knees, scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, hat on, headphones resting on his shoulders he looked at Tetsuro.

With the way that the grey clouds curled behind him, and the way his breath left as a visible mist in the could air he had something stunning about him.

Well, he would if the dog wouldn’t make such an alarm.

“Tadashi, just shut up.” The dog sat down and growled at Tetsuro, but at least he was comparatively silent now.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Tetsuro answered back, with a small wave. “Wanna have a seat?” He said, pointing at the free half of the bench next to him.

“Sure.” Tsukishima answered, then he took a ball from his coat jacked, unclipped the leash, got his dogs attention, “Tadashi, fetch!” And threw the ball an impressive length, the dog shooting after it.

He sat down next to Tetsuro, pulled his phone out, and turned his music off just as Tetsuro was about to identify the familiar tune.

He looked at the still mostly empty park around him, and jumped a little when the church behind them struck six o’clock.

“What an unconventional time to walk the dog.”

Said dog approached them at a rapid speed. “Yea well,” Tsukki took the toy and threw it again, “my upstairs neighbours were being kinda loud, so me and Tadashi left.”

The permanent smirk left Tetsuro’s face. “Sorry about that.”

Tsukki waved him off. “It’s fine, I’m the apartment with the loud dog after all.” Tetsuro chucked at that, gazing at the dog that was shooting off. “Did you have a fight with your girlfriend?” Tetsuro hummed in agreement. “What about?”

 _You, technically_. The dog ran back to them. _Which is funny in its own right because I barely know you_. Tsukki threw the ball again.

“She doesn’t trust me.” Tsukki raised an eyebrow at him in question. “She found out that I didn’t actually make the cake and now she thinks that I’m cheating on her with the person that made my apology cake for her.” It sounded really stupid when it was said like that, Tetsuro almost laughed.

“Aha,” Tsukki said in response, Tadashi was sniffing for his ball in the distance, “wait, that means you were fighting about me.” He noticed in sudden concern.

Tetsuro quickly waved him off, “It’s not like that. We have fought before about other things.” Then he realised how that sounded, and quickly added, “but it’s not like we fight all the time. I really enjoy the relationship and I’m glad to have her!”

Tsukki threw a calculating look at him, Tetsuro couldn’t read what he concluded from the investigation.

Tadashi had found his ball and was on his way back.

“Say, Tsukki,” Tsukki made a disgusted face, clearly displeased by the nickname. Tetsuro chuckled. “Do you believe in true love?”

Tsukki took the honestly disgusting looking ball from Tadashi’s mouth with his gloved hand and gave it another good throw. Tadashi seemed to lose his stamina slowly.

“It’s hard not to, honestly.” Tetsuro didn’t expect that answer, looking at him Tsukki seemed to be as taken aback by it as well.

“Well what I mean is that I’ve seen it.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “In high school my sports team had these two guys who were absolutely destined for each other. Everybody knew they would get married one day before the two of them even realised their own feelings.”

Tadashi had come back, much slower than before, panting heavily. “Just one more, Tadashi, okay?” Tsukki said, throwing the ball again, but not as far this time.

“Their love for each other was just so genuine and obvious that even the greatest cynical,” Tsukki pointed at himself which made Tetsuro smirk, “wouldn’t be able to help but start believing in love.”

Tetsuro hummed. “Did they actually end up together?”

“They just had their one year anniversary.” Tadashi came back notably exhausted, Tsukki took the ball out of his mouth, scratched him behind the ears while calling him a good boy, pocketed the ball and let Tadashi curl at his feet to rest. “They have to go long distance for the foreseeable future because they got accepted into different teams at the opposite ends of the country, but if they don’t make it out of the gate none of us will.”

Tetsuro had to actually laugh at that.

“Yea, I think I’ve witnessed true love too.” Tsukki looked at him in interest, Tetsuro stared off into the distance. “My two closest friends, and ex-flatmates, have been an item since high school. I knew them then too. Our schools were rivals so I met them frequently. Just looking at them they are polar opposites of one another, so you really couldn’t see how they would work out, but they really hit it off and now they are inseparable. If anyone would make me believe in love it would be those two.”

They both looked ahead, contemplating. Tetsuro remembering all the fond memories he had of his best friends.

“And that thing with your girlfriend, is that true love?”

——

 _And that thing with your girlfriend, is that true love_?

Tetsuro was restless, he couldn’t sleep.

 _Is it_?

He turned around again. Then some more until he was lying back on his back and staring at the ceiling in the dark.

 _Do I want it to be_?

Tetsuro was getting nervous. This was never a question he had asked himself, with any of his partners, and the darkness of the night made everything more scary.

 _Would I even be able to identify it if it was_?

He had to think of Bo, who in his second year had sought out Tetsuro approximately five seconds after practice ended because 'one of the first years is like super pretty! You don’t understand, he’s so out of my league! I’m gonna ask him to marry me Kuroo, I will!!'

Tetsuro turned onto his side, thinking back to all the times he had fallen for somebody on first sight.

It wasn’t that uncommon of a phenomenon. The lady manager his team had in first year was super pretty, and mildly intimidating, but graduated before they could ever truly bond. His rival Captain from Nohebi was an absolute snack, before his awful personality ruined the picture. He spent all his money in the first year of college on pancakes, because there was a pancake store down the road from him and he was in love with the vendor.

The more Tetsuro thought about it, the more cases he could think of, a good number of them were quite recent.

A cute, easily startled guy with a loud dog whose face lights up when he talks about amphibians.

Tetsuro turned back to the other side, hugging one of his many pillows.

No, this wasn’t about cute boys that were out of his reach, this was about how in love he was with his girlfriend.

Or was it?

 _Do I want Ayumi to be my soul mate_?

Now that was a thought that made him shoot out of bed, mainly because he didn’t want to think about the answer. He rubbed his eyes and groaned in agony. He had to deal with all of this somehow, make sense of what was going on in his head and in his heart.

He got up and made for his trusty guitar, Kenma at the foot of his bed still completely unfazed.

He sat down and played a few chords. Quiet, low tunes. Chords that matched interlaced with chords that didn’t. Something about the mismatching notes made the tears come. And the words.

He sung about relationships, he sung about love. He sung about how he didn’t know what he wanted, yet he craved it deeply and chased it blindly. Jumping over hurdles and running into walls. He sung about expectations from girls and hurtful words from boys.

He could make a song out of this, get an overall theme, work on the tune a bit, make the words rhyme. He looked at the clock on the oven.

Fuck it, the best songs are written at the verge of a break-up and posted at 3:30 am.


	8. Damn pretty boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moral of the story is: do art when you in distress, talk to your friends, go on a run.

Kei had enough stress at school that he had been able to forget about stress from home. So when he came up the stairs to his apartment he thought about taking a walk with Tadashi, not running into his hot neighbour coming down the stairs himself and looking like absolute death.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Huh?” Kuroo seemed completely out of it, taking a few seconds to notice that he was even being talked to, and to notice that it had been Kei that had talked to him.

“Hey, Tsukki,” He yawned around a tired and lopsided smile, “had a shit night.”

“It’s 4 pm.”

“And shit day.”

Kei was concerned, what could possibly make a person look this much like garbage, within 24 hours no less.

“Anything I can help with?” Kei felt odd letting out his hidden generous side. If the shrimp could see him now he would laugh.

“Nah, it’s fine, I-” Kuroo held in for a moment, seemingly realising something. “Actually, can I see my babies?”

Kei was confused for a second, but then he remembered. “The magazine’s?” Kuroo nodded. “Sure thing, come inside.”

Kei opened the door for both of them, but didn’t necessarily take into account that Tadashi would be barking at them.

Specifically, loudly barking at Kuroo.

“Tadashi, shut up! You can make yourself at home Kuroo, the magazine’s are in the- Tadashi, shush! -book shelve in the living room. Tadashi and I will- be quiet, Tadashi! -Tadashi and me will go for a walk. Make yourself at home. Tadashi, I’m serious!” Kei pulled hard on Tadashi’s collar, but he wouldn’t stop growling at Kuroo.

The man in question looked intimidated by the dog, but nodded at what Kei said, and made off towards the living room.

Kei dropped his school bag next to the entry door, pocketed Tadashi’s favourite ball, and clipped the dog onto his leash. Kuroo would be fine alone in Kei’s Apartment, and he probably wouldn’t be stealing anything either.

Mainly because there wasn’t particularly much to steal.

——

There they were, there were his babies, waiting for him.

Half of what was a really big book shelf, exactly the same one he had in his own apartment because the furniture came with the place, was filled with all the National Geographics that Tetsuro had collected over the course of almost two decades.

Upon further inspection Tetsuro could see that Tsukishima had sorted them by release date, just how Tetsuro had done. He chuckled.

He stood as close to the bookshelf as he could and took a deep breath. Yes, his babies still smelled exactly like how he remembered them. It also seemed that Tsukishima had kept them dust free, which was also something Tetsuro had done when they were still part of his belongings.

He leaned his forehead against the shelf and closed his eyes. Just resting. Resting and taking in what had happened these last few days, last few weeks. Years. Ever.

It was a lot.

Failed crushes, failed loves, failed relationships.

A budding rivalry and eventual friendship with Bokuto. A consequential friendship with Akaashi because there was no way of escaping that when you befriended Bokuto.

Graduating high school, entering university, moving in with Bokuto and Akaashi. Getting his Bachelors. Starting Post Grad and moving out because there was only so much time you could spend around Bokuto and Akaashi without going crazy. Another brief and failed relationship with the poster designer from the LGBT club of the university that had wanted Tetsuro on their poster even though Tetsuro wasn’t part of their club.

A friends birthday party where he had a nice chat with a pretty girl that made his heart beat faster so he asked her out. She accepted.

Now he stood in front of his most prized possessions, no longer part of his inventory, and evaluated whether they were more important than a pretty girl with a smart brain.

Tetsuro let out a deep breath he could feel in his soul. He needed some help.

He texted Bokuto.

——

It had been barely over a week since he’d last seen Bo, but damn if it hadn’t felt like months.

And damn if it didn’t feel like he hadn’t been hugged in a month either. Bo also seemed to sense that he really needed that hug, it was tighter and longer than usual.

“Hello, Kuroo.” Tetsuro nodded at Akaashi behind Bokuto. He tried to say something, make a quip of some sort, but his throat felt too dry.

“You’re quiet Kuroo. Is it that bad?” Tetsuro tried to answer, but instead he could feel tears running down his face.

“Oh dear, come on in, I’ll make some tea. Koutarou, get him some chocolate.”

“Aye, Aye, Captain.” Bo said with a big grin, steering Tetsuro into their living room by the shoulders and sitting him down on their oddly comfortable couch. Bokuto tightly wrapped a blanket around him, and Tetsuro felt trapped and oddly hot, but nonetheless grateful for his closest friends.

An entire packet of chocolate and a hot tea later Tetsuro felt significantly more safe and secure than he had in awhile.

“Alright, drama boy, spill your problems.” Akaashi said, sitting in front of him on the coffee table.

——

When Kei and Tadashi came back Kuroo was already gone.

Kei had hoped that if he wore Tadashi out while on the road then he could come home and have a chat with Kuroo without the loud barking.

Kei shook his head as he closed the door. There was no point in getting closer to the neighbour when the neighbour was still hung up on his girlfriend. Hell, he might have found out that they were actually soul mates in the end, and then Kei would get himself invested in a guy that was even more out of his reach than before.

Kei undressed himself and Tadashi, going to the kitchen to make himself some tea and give Tadashi some treats.

From what he could tell there couldn’t have been particularly much that Kuroo had done while alone in Kei’s apartment. There was no used cups, no readjusted couch cushions, nothing.

Kei took a sip of his tea. Even the magazine’s seemed untouched, Kei had expected him to read them or something.

Kei pulled out his phone, there was a message from Hitoka who seemed distressed.

Hitoka (2:34 pm): kei i need ur help!!!

Hitoka (2:34 pm): I wanna join the vball club as a manager but all the boys there are so scary and tall!!! and i dont know anyone and i think you havent joined can you come with me pls?!?!?!?! Im too nervous to go by myself!!!!

Kei sighed, wrestling with himself on whether he should do it.

——

“Thanks for doing it, Kei, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem, I meant to join anyway.”

While Kei’s words rang true, he nonetheless felt significantly less enthusiastic than he would if he had joined on his own terms.

Kei and Hitoka filled out their club applications after introducing themselves to the captain. Their captain gave them both a clap on the back in appreciation. Tsukki because he was among the tallest in the club, and Hitoka because the membership was quite big and they had meant to get another manager anyway.

Kei and Hitoka didn’t get to see much of the club members, because two different courses had big tests that week so their attendance that day was less than half.

Kei nonetheless had spoken to a whole of three people that were taller than him. Kei, at 1.96 meters tall, wasn’t particularly used to having to look up to people. It had happened, of course, even back when he had been captain of Karasuno, Nekoma’s captain Lev had been two centimeters taller than him, but it still felt weird nonetheless.

The university captain appreciated his skills, the other players appreciated his estimations of further gameplay, and it seemed Hitoka had advertised his strong suits to the coach as well, who was standing next to her and nodding approvingly.

Maybe joining volleyball wasn’t that bad at all.

——

“Man, that was nerve-wracking. I’m never joining a new club again.” Hitoka said, letting out a heartfelt sigh.

“Was it that bad? You seemed to be in your element there.” Kei absentmindedly searched through his bag, he must have forgotten his water bottle at the gym. Whatever, he’ll get it tomorrow.

“I’m glad it looked like it, because I was shaking like a leaf. Also the coach has a really hard to understand accent, so I just agreed with what he said and talked about our time at Karasuno. Alright, that’s me. See you tomorrow, Kei.”

“I can wait by your bus stop, it’s no problem.”

“Thanks! That’s nice of you. I’m honestly terrified alone in the dark.”

“As long as you don’t tell the king that I have a secret nice streak we are good.” Kei shivered at the thought of the tall idiot having any sort of upper hand over him.

“Won’t hear it from me.” Hitoka said with a salute and a wink.


	9. We need to break up

_I need to break up with her_.  
  
Tetsuro had bawled his eyes out and complained and discussed with Bo and Akaashi, and the verdict had been that they needed to break it off.  
  
_I need to break up with her_.  
  
Tetsuro took a deep breath. His very first break up. Usually he was the one that was dumped, because Tetsuro tended to cling to relationships no matter the circumstances, and other people tended to get bored of him.  
  
This was the first time that Tetsuro would be the one to break it off.  
  
He was super nervous.  
  
He had a detailed plan on what to do to make the situation as efficient and drama reducing as possible, he had his phone in his hand, and he had a vague idea about what he wanted to tell Ayumi once he made the call.  
  
He was super nervous.  
  
He figured it would have to be like ripping off a band-aid, call her, tell her where to meet, say thanks but no thanks, leave.  
  
The problem was only that once he would call her, he would have to meet her, and then he would have to break up with her. He couldn’t do that, his inner urge to please the partner just fought against that.  
  
Meeting up for the break up had been his idea too. He had complained to Bokuto and Akaashi about his nerves of displeasing a person, but need to respect them by telling them face to face that they needed to seperate. Akaashi had told him to just do it over the phone, have it be done with. Tetsuro couldn’t do that though, he wouldn’t be that person.  
  
Calling it is.  
  
Meeting up it is.  
  
Breaking up it is.  
  
——  
  
Tetsuro had never been this grateful for a fire alarm, because it gave him the opportunity to ‘forget’ his phone inside and leave it there for the time being. He had two hands full of Kenma to look out for anyway.  
  
To his displeasure though he couldn’t see his downstairs neighbour, and he didn’t know anyone else in the building. An older lady a bit away from him made a severely displeased face at his cat. He was tempted to return the look.  
  
“What’s the commotion here?” Said a pleasant voice.  
  
Tetsuro turned around to respond, but his answer was cut off with loud barking and angry hissing.  
  
Tetsuro and Kei turned away to tell their respective lovelies to shut it, when a third voice joined the fest.  
  
“What’s that alarm?” If Tetsuro had thought that Tadashi had been hostile towards him, it was absolutely nothing compared to the noise he made when their landlord showed up.  
  
Kei actually went on his knees to keep Tadashi’s mouth physically shut with the force of his arms, while telling him to be quiet, but Tadashi broke out of his hold again and again to continue protesting against the landlord. Tetsuro could feel Kenma flexing his claws against his arms, also staring directly at the landlord.  
  
“If you can’t control your dog we may need to put up drastic measures against it.” The landlord said, shaking his head dramatically. Tsukki stared at the landlord in fear.  
  
Tetsuro stepped between them.  
  
“Hey now, that really isn’t…”  
  
“Don’t get me started on your weird beast, young man.”  
  
Tetsuro was affronted, even though he had always been aware of his landlord’s opinion about his cat.  
  
“I’ll have you know that Kenma is the backbone, brain, and heart of this apartment building.” He said over Kenma’s protest.  
  
He could faintly hear Tsukki snicker behind him, and the landlord was so done with him that he scoffed and turned away. He counted that as two seperate victories.  
  
The fire department had cleared the building and they were allowed back inside.  
  
——  
  
The phone and him were alone again. This was nice.  
  
Kenma seemed to sense Tetsuro’s distress and had curled up against him which Tetsuro appreciated, but it didn’t increase his courage to break things off.  
  
He sighed and turned on the TV, might as well distract himself from the distress.  
  
——  
  
A few seconds after Tetsuro had gone to bed and had said good night to Kenma his phone rang. It was Ayumi. He pretended to already be asleep.  
  
——  
  
By the time Tetsuro woke up he had completely forgotten about Ayumi. Five missed phone calls and 20 missed messages gave him a hard reminder though. He decided to keep his phone on mute some more and make some breakfast before doing anything else drastic.  
  
As he exited his bedroom he was hindered but not stopped by Kenma rubbing against and between his legs, meowing loudly as if he hadn’t eaten in a week. Tetsuro raised an eyebrow in scepticism, because even when presented with a full bowl Kenma wouldn’t eat much. He ended up indulgent however and gave Kenma some food before even setting the water to boiling.  
  
Tetsuro sat himself at his Kitchen counter and opened his phone. He viewed a message from Akaashi:  
  
Ak-ass-i (9:47 pm): How is the situation?  
  
Tetsuro didn’t know what to say, _good_? _Bad_? _Hadn’t had the balls_? For now he had some coffee and scrolled down some social media Ayumi didn’t have.  
  
____  
  
This was getting ridiculous. Tetsuro hadn’t touched his phone the entire time he was in school, unheard of regarding him. Bo had left him five messages that he also didn’t know how to answer, and now he was at home making himself an after class snack and still avoiding the problem.   
  
As he chewed on his sandwich half heartedly, and Kenma napped in front of him on the table, he thought about his situation again. He needed to break up with her. It made his stomach turn.  
  
He also had re-surfacing old thought: _I must please the partner_.  
  
It was a thought that had kept him in a lot of his old relationships. He ran by the program that when he was in a relationship with someone, no matter if he loved them or even liked them, he had to please them and make them happy. Even if he himself ended up rather unhappy himself.  
  
_Fuck_.


	10. On days like this

Kei honestly didn’t know what to expect of his day. He had slept into the first half of a really important class, he had spilled coffee over himself on the way to uni, and Hitoka had ditched him at the club because she had an important assignment to work on.   
  
So when he stood outside his apartment door and realised that he didn’t have his keys with him he was disappointed, but not surprised.   
  
He texted the landlord, it was still quite early in the evening, so he couldn’t be too mad about Kei’s issue.   
  
What now though?   
  
“What are you looking so lost for?”   
  
Kei turned around to see a massive paper bag being held up by two arms and a long pair of legs.   
  
“I locked myself out, Kuroo.”   
  
The bipedal paper bag chuckled.   
  
“You can come upstairs and wait there for the landlord, if you want. Be careful though, I have guests.”   
  
Kei nodded, realised Kuroo could barely see him, and just agreed to the terms.   
  
“Can you open the door for me, I kinda don’t have my hands free.” Kei mistakenly nodded again but decided just opening the door would suffice.   
  
He stepped in and held the entry open for Kuroo to walk through, when he closed the door and turned around though he was stopped to a halt.   
  
The most beautiful man that Kei had ever seen in his life was standing right in front of him, making eye contact.   
  
Wearing nothing but black boxer briefs.   
  
“Evening.” Said the beautiful man, nodding at Kei before proceeding in his quest out of the living area. Kei was too dumb stuck to react in any way. Just as he gathered himself enough to take his coat off he heard a loud “Keiiiiiiijiiiiii!” Coming from a man entering the living area from another door.   
  
That man at least had a T-shirt over his briefs, but it did nothing to hide the fact that he was built like a wardrobe. The man didn’t notice Kei as he shot past him, and Kei had to swallow hard as he watched what must be the most beautiful ass in the world.   
  
“Those are my best friends, Akaashi and Bokuto.” Kei shrieked in shock, which was not a reaction he ever expected out of himself. Kuroo stood next to him, staring at the direction where the couple had just disappeared to, arms crossed and generally disinterested.   
  
“The novelty value of this wears off after some time, so enjoy the view while you’re still willing.”   
  
Kei didn’t know how to respond to that. He made to hang up his coat, when the couple came back, the beautiful guy walking ahead.   
  
“No, Koutaru, I will listen to your nonsense no longer.”   
  
“But Keijiiiiii…” The well built man said behind him, stark naked this time.   
  
“BO, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PUT ON SOME FUCKING PANTS!!”   
  
——   
  
Bokuto and Akaashi were cosplayers, as it turned out, hanging at Kuroo’s place to prepare for an upcoming expo.   
  
They were preparing costumes for Naruto and Hinata respectively, Kei had to do a backpedal because the name ‘Hinata’ made him think of the shrimp, and that was a meeting he really didn’t want to happen.   
  
Bokuto, cosplaying Naruto, was loud, enthusiastic, and weirdly addicting. Traits he shared with the shrimp, traits Kei had hoped to escape with the shrimp moving so far away, but alas.   
  
Akaashi was his beautiful counterpart, a quiet, calculating elegance radiated from his presence. An impressive counterpoint to the loud wardrobe, and perfect match to Hinata from the Shippuden series.   
  
Kei turned to Kuroo, sipping some coffee and looking down upon his friends cutting up and glueing together fabric on his living room floor.   
  
“What are you going to cosplay?” He asked Kuroo.   
  
“I… uhhhhh…” Kei hadn’t expected him to look so startled.   
  
“Kuroo usually cosplays with us, but not this time. Why was that again, Kuroo-kun?”   
  
Kuroo pouted angrily at Akaashi. “I get it, Akaashi, I’m working on it.” He turned to Kei, significantly less pissed off now. “Ayumi thinks that cosplaying is for kids and weirdos. So I’ve been hesitant to do it this time.”   
  
So the girlfriend again.   
  
Wait,  _ I’m working on it _ ?   
  
“I still don’t know why that would keep you from doing what makes you happy.” Akaashi threw a smug and approving look at Bokuto then.   
  
Kuroo looked significantly less fond. “It’s not that easy Bo.”   
  
——   
  
Kei was having significantly more fun helping other people get dressed than he had expected to.   
  
There was a wonderful thrill in making Millimeter exact calculations and cuts into fabric and foam tissue, working quickly with glue and matching a real world model to a character sheet.   
  
Three years of riling up the shrimp payed off every time he made a snarky remark at Bokuto, getting an overly dramatic response in turn. Akaashi, next to him, made very poor attempts to hide his amusement at his boyfriend, once even stating ‘you just got roasted by an undergrad’, which got an even more dramatic response.   
  
Helping Akaashi get fitted was a feat in self, it was evident that Akaashi had the same passion for precision work and perfect results that Kei had, but it was also evident that Akaashi did his best he could to get Kei to measure all of him very throughout, and would grin smugly whenever Kei’s eyes or hands would linger for too long. Damn that guy and the fact that Kei was willing to forgive him anything.   
  
Talking to Kuroo was a delight in and of itself. That guy was a show stealer, he had a wonderful smile and a horrendous laugh, and there was something glowing about his face that day that would have probably struck Kei dead if it had happened on their first meeting.   
  
Kuroo was every bit as snarky as Kei was, often roasting Bokuto alongside him with even better material, and Kei fucking lived for it.   
  
It felt like breathing.   
  
Like having held your breath shallow unknowingly and then finally making a deep intake.   
  
Kei found himself laughing out loud. Genuinely. He couldn’t remember when that had happened the last time. Probably when he was a kid.    
  
Seeing the finished pieces was amazing. Bokuto made for a weirdly buff and tall Naruto, but a fitting one nonetheless. Akaashi made a picture perfect Hinata, but his hooded eyes gave him an even more deadly beauty. Kei’s heart skipped about five beats looking at him directly.   
  
“Guys, I’m not gonna lie, I’m fucking proud.” Kuroo wiped a hopefully fake tear out of his eye. Kei would make a snarky comment but was trying really hard not to show his own pride too openly. “Tsukki, get us some fucking champagne from the kitchen.”   
  
Kei made a face at that name again, mostly out of principle though. Laughter erupted in the room.   
  
“No, but please. It’s in the cupboard above the fridge. Wait, do you drink?”   
  
Good question. He didn’t have any experience in it, but he was not opposed to it. “Not usually, but I really need some after looking at you all day.”   
  
“Mean, Tsukki.” Kei could hear his smile even though he had turned away from seeing it.   
  
Kuroo had a sizely alcohol collection for someone who barely kept any other forms of nutrition in his kitchen and apparently struggled to cook. Kei couldn’t quite keep himself from humming under his breath as he selected a random bottle with a nice label and pulled four red wine glasses out of the third cupboard he checked for utensils.   
  
“What are you humming?” Kei very nearly dropped everything turning around and being addressed unexpectedly. That guy truly was quiet like a cat.    
  
“Its the newest song from my favourite artist. It’s called ‘pretty boys’.” Kei was grateful that neither his face nor his voice tended to show emotion. This subject was weirdly personal for him and he was both surprised by the fact that he wanted to keep it a secret, and that he was willing to tell Kuroo about it. “I’ve had this song in my head since it came out. I think if my life this last week had a theme it would be that.”   
  
Kei didn’t know what to make of Kuroo’s face, he was oddly quiet and he looked absolutely shocked.   
  
“Tsukishima, I-”   
  
A loud vibrating sound coming from Kei’s phone interrupted them.   
  
“Sorry I gotta take this, it’s the landlord.” Tsukki accepted the call and took off.   
  
——   
  
Tetsuro had taken a moment in the kitchen for himself to recover, he hadn’t expected to hear that particular song, let alone from that person, let alone to have said person relate to it.   
  
He took the wine Tsukki chose and three glasses and went back to the living room.   
  
He only just saw Tsukki saying goodbye, politely telling his guests that it had been a pleasure to meet them. Akaashi nodded politely in turn, Bokuto threw his arms around the taller boy in uninhibited cheer. Tsukki’s face showed clear disapproval of that action. Tetsuro couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.   
  
Tsukki caught his eye. “Thanks for not letting me rot outside my apartment.”   
  
“Thanks for gracing us with your sparkling personality.” Tsukki threw his middle finger up at him, but failed to hide a smile as he left through the door.   
  
“I like Tsukki, he is a lot of fun!”   
  
“I agree, how did you find a guy like that, Kuroo.”   
  
“He just lives downstairs guys, it’s not that big of a deal.” Tetsuro said, giving his friends their glasses and pouring some wine in.   
  
“Even Koutarou doesn’t become close friends with all the attractive people in our neighbourhood, so what’s keeping you from tapping that?”   
  
“I’m a taken man Akaashi.”   
  
Akaashi hummed no-committedly, then he raised his glass to the group and said “to pretty boys!”   
  
“Pretty boys are the best!” Bokuto yelled with almost too much enthusiasm.   
  
Tetsuro hid his failure to respond by downing the glass in one go. Then he downed another.   
  
By the time he had emptied his third glass, because he had calmed down and actually drank that one like a normal person, he heard a knock on the door. His amazing mood fell the second he saw Ayumi.   
  
There was tears running down her face, but she was also smiling.   
  
“I listened to ‘pretty boys’.”   
  
Tetsuro failed to respond to that.   
  
“It’s about me, isn’t it?”   
  
“Uh…”  _ What _ ?   
  
“You wrote it about me, didn’t you? It just fits our situation and us so well, and it came out right after our fight. You wrote about how I am so enthralled by your good looks that I forgive you anything, and that I never truly felt connected to you because we never really bonded. Oh Tetsu, I never knew you had such insight into my life!”   
  
The woman charged forwards and threw herself into Tetsuro’s arms, who still didn’t know how to react to the situation. He turned around to his friends in guidance, Bokuto looked entirely lost by the situation, Akaashi looked way too knowing and smug, and the red wine glass in his hand suited that particular picture too well.   
  
Tetsuro turned back to the woman crying in his arms, held her at arms length away from her, and started to talk.   
  
“‘Pretty boys’ isn’t about you.” He looked away from her, at the ground, the ceiling, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Pretty boys is about me.”   
  
Tetsuro fiddled with his fingers, noticing Ayumi’s confused and disapproving look.   
  
“‘Pretty boys’ is about my fucked up relationship with love, and how pretty boys made me realise that there is more for me out there than I had been able to seek by throwing all of myself into the next best relationship.”    
  
He looked directly into her face then. “‘Pretty boys’ is about how I want to break up with you.”   
  
Jarring silence.   
  
Ayumi’s angry face.   
  
“What?!”   
  
Tetsuro flinched, the tone was unnaturally loud in that tense moment.   
  
“There is someone else, isn’t there!?” Tetsuro had never seen her this angry, he felt light headed. “It’s that bitch from down stairs, isn’t it, the one that made the cake that ‘didn’t mean anything I swear Ayumi, I love you Ayumi’!”   
  
“Ayumi I-” His breath and words were stuck in his throat.   
  
“And now you’re here with your weird queer friends, and you do your weird childish thing where-!!”   
  
“Miss Ayumi, I really don’t think-” Akaashi tried to say, stepping in front of Tetsuro.   
  
Tetsuro was staring at the ground, trying to not collapse then and there, so he didn’t see properly what happened. All he knew was that he heard a slap, followed by a gasp from Akaashi, and within the same second he saw orange smudge that was Bokuto flow in front of them and a loud ‘bam’ that sounded like a fist hitting a face.   
  
A female scream, something hard like bone hitting something hard like wood.   
  
Tetsuro managed to look up then. Ayumi was on the floor, holding her face and looking up in shock at Bokuto, the door frame at a worrying angle behind her head. Akaashi was holding back Bokuto, gently whispering ‘Koutarou, no, she’s not worth it’ at a loud enough volume for her too hear as well.   
  
She didn’t seem to recover from her shock, but she directed her tumbling emotions at Tetsuro again.   
  
“I am going to want my stuff back.” She said, getting up from the floor.   
  
‘I don’t want it!’ He tried to say, but words had still left him.   
  
She shouldered her handbag and left the apartment. Tetsuro actually collapsed then. He held his hands out in front of him and watched them shake, he felt tears running down his face.   
  
Gentle whispers.   
  
‘Are you okay Keiji.’   
  
‘It was just a slap Koutarou.’   
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up, it was Akaashi. His eyes asked how he was holding up. The tears came harder now.   
  
She was gone.   
  
It was over.   
  
Tetsuro had actually told her that he wanted to break up and now they are no longer a couple.   
  
Tetsuro was free.   
  
Tetsuro could do what he wanted.   
  
He laughed then.   
  
He laughed from the very depths of his heart. He laughed like he hadn’t in a very long time.   
  
He laughed a petty and ugly laugh he never wanted to laugh again.   
  
The shaking in his hands was almost gone, but his head was still spinning.


	11. Tiring

Kei took a deep breath and steeled himself. He couldn’t believe that after living three years of this exact hell he was about to put himself through it again. Willingly.  
  
He approached the back of the gym, where the loud spiker and the quiet setter had scared off another unassuming team member who had made the mistake of stepping too close to their training regime and almost got pulled into it.  
  
“Hey.” He said, addressing the pair. “Do you guys need a blocker by any chance?”  
  
Bokuto Koutarou and Akaashi Keiji were more than delighted to spike balls around Kei’s blocks instead of into the endless void of the gym.  
  
Kei felt prepared, he had blocked Ushijima’s unstoppable spike when he was 15. He had become attuned to that unholy fast play the shrimp specialised in. He had stood on national stage with the best high school players, setters and spikers alike, there was nothing that could shake him.  
  
Blocking Bokuto Koutarou was damn well impossible, at least alone. Not only was he unstoppably strong, he was also fast, calculative, and enthrallingly passionate.  
  
It was like a the shrimp on steroids. And with more experience.  
  
It had been close to an hour, and Kei was slowly but surely losing breath.  
  
“Need some help?”  
  
Kei shot up straight hearing that voice.  
  
“Kuroo.” There was something glowing about him that day; he radiated something that was gorgeous and heartwarming.  
  
“Fashionably late as ever.” Akaashi said with a grin.  
  
“Lost track of time in the library.”  
  
“That’s funny, I don’t think I’ve even seen you study.”  
  
“Rude, Akaashi.”  
  
So Kei had just adjusted to seeing Akaashi and Bokuto of all people in the club, and he knew that some people couldn’t come, but seeing Kuroo was somehow more jarring.  
  
Like seeing two worlds that didn’t belong together clash.  
  
“If you keep his straight in check I’ll cover his crosses.” Kuroo said quietly, stepping worryingly close to him but looking ahead.  
  
Kei swallowed and failed to respond.  
  
Akaashi tossed to Bokuto. Bokuto yelled and jumped up. Kuroo reminded him about the straight again. Bokuto noticed his unwavering block. Changed the angle, and got blocked by a worryingly excited Kuroo.  
  
The ball landed behind Bokuto, and the point went to Kei’s team.  
  
“Yaaaaay~” Kuroo slurred. “God I missed practice.”  
  
“And I see that you’re still a pain in the ass even after several weeks absence.”  
  
“Oh come-on, ‘kaashi, you know spiking is no fun without a blocker.”  
  
“It’s more fun without you.”  
  
“Rude, ‘kaashi.”  
  
Kei couldn’t believe it. Kuroo had kill blocked Bokuto’s spike without a problem, Kei had barely managed to touched them, let alone actually change their path in any way.  
  
“One more, Akaashi!” Bokuto said with significantly more anger than before.  
  
“Oh ho ho,” Kuroo said under his breath. “Someone is getting riled up easy today. You better prepare for some force.”  
  
Akaashi tossed, Bokuto spiked, Kei controlled the straight, Kuroo blocked the ball.  
  
“Damn you annoying cat!” Bokuto said in annoyance which made Kuroo giggled in a super villain sort of a way.  
  
Kei’s heart fluttered like an excited little bird. He wondered if this was how the shrimp felt all the time.  
  
“One more, Akaashi!”  
  
“Don’t forget what you are capable of, Bokuto.”  
  
The couple exchanged a meaningful look that Kei couldn’t interpret, but worried him nonetheless.  
  
“Damn, and here I thought he would be easy today.” Kuroo said under his breath.  
  
“Toss to me, Akaashi!” Bokuto yelled, anger visible on his face. It was so intense Kei felt legitimately intimidated; he was almost too afraid to jump for the block.  
  
He jumped up, Kuroo did as well. Bokuto yelled. And then did the softest spike with a high arch that neither him nor Kuroo had any hope of stopping.  
  
“Hey, hey, hey! I am the best!!”  
  
‘It was a facade’, Kei thought, ‘he put on the facade of a mad man to make it look like he wasn’t thinking about his next move.  
  
“Damn this annoying owl,” Kuroo said, wiping some sweat from his face, “I underestimated him again.” Kei failed to respond because he tried to not make audible how riled up the heated look in Kuroo’s eyes got him.  
  
They trained more, Kuroo teaching him stuff about blocking he hadn’t even heard before, or made him understand concepts he never truly got. Akaashi and Kuroo exchanged snarky remarks about one another’s performance, Kei had never felt this much joy blocking the same sort of spike repeatedly in a row.  
  
Practice finished, and Kei hadn’t even noticed the time passing. Everybody cooled down, bowed, and said goodbye. Bokuto, Akkashi, and Kuroo invited him to extra practice. Kei agreed.  
  
He didn’t think he would ever willingly get involved in extra practice again without the verbal force of Ennoshita-senpai, or the physical force of his ace.  
  
After what must have been another hour he started to feel light headed. To his surprise, though, it was Kuroo that called for a break.  
  
“You guys- You weird freaks have too much stamina. Us normal people need a break.”  
  
Bokuto refused to stop grinning, Akaashi smirked, self-assured.  
  
“That’s what you get for skipping practice for weeks, you lazy cat.”  
  
“Damn you rude owl.”  
  
Seeing Kuroo leaning on his knees, sweating and panting and insulting people unlocked at least three new kinks that Kei hadn’t even been aware of.  
  
“You’re still good to go, Freaky-shima?”  
  
Kei took a moment to come back to reality, hadn’t expected to be addressed directly.  
  
He was a bit dizzy, but nothing that couldn’t be solved with some water and a quick break.  
  
He thought about going home. Doing his homework, walking Tadashi, cooking some food, watching his favourite series.  
  
His daily, comfortable, well calculated routine had been pushed back by practice. Tadashi would probably whine about him being out unusually long, he wouldn’t have time to catch up with his show if he stayed longer, wouldn’t have energy left to cook for himself if he trained harder.  
  
“Yea, I’m still good to go.”  
  
——  
  
Kei honestly shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was that Hitoka had gotten him a job; he was more surprised how well it suited him though.  
  
“Welcome to not PetSmart, let me ring your order.” Well, most of the time.  
  
Hitoka had been working at this particular store for a while now, had raved about it and loved it. Recently an old employee had left and Hitoka had put in a good word for him. Old people seemed to believe everything small, cute girls said to them.  
  
“Next please.” He had been behind the register for all of five minutes and his face already hurt from smiling. How did Hitoka do it all day? And hers was perfectly natural and not obviously forced like his was. He knew it looked forced because it felt forced and his customers did a double take when they looked him in the face.  
  
“Do you want a bag for that?”  
  
“Have a nice day.”  
  
“It’s down the aisle, to the left.”  
  
“I’m going to have to get my manager for that.”  
  
Kei felt absolutely drained by the time their lunch break rolled around. Hitoka had laughed at his expense.  
  
“You honestly did better than I had expected of you. How are you holding up?”  
  
Kei tried to snark at her but only managed to groan in her general direction.  
  
“Ah, that’s what I expected of you. Eat something and recharge, we’re usually fuller in the afternoon.”  
  
Kei groaned again.  
  
——  
  
Aside from being tiring, the work wasn’t all that bad. He had time to talk to Hitoka in between bursts of customers, his manager was lenient with him not being super fast and making mistakes, and he got to see dogs on a regular basis. A good job, all things considered.  
  
They still had another 30 minutes of shift, but Hitoka had informed him that those were usually rather quiet.  
  
The only thing not quiet was Hitoka giggling in irregular intervals.  
  
“Say what's so funny about your phone?” His tone was a tad more cheerful than he had intended it to be, but he enjoyed the quiet the store had at that moment and Hitoka’s company wasn’t the worst either.  
  
“Oh, I made friends with one of our regular customers who always buys his speciality cat food from here. Point is, I was scared senseless the first couple of time I served him because I was certain that he was part of the Yakuza. Turns out that’s just how he looks and now we send each other cat memes.”  
  
She turned her phone around to show Kei a particularly fat cat that fell off a table with a comically distressed face on. He looked up and saw the contact name ‘Yakuza’.  
  
“Say, how did he prove to you that he wasn’t Yakuza? He could just lie to you.”  
  
Hitoka gasped and took her phone back. “Tetsu wouldn’t do that!”  
  
That name rung a bell with him, but he was getting too pleasantly tired to think about names and people.  
  
——  
  
God it was boring. When he had thought that his favourite part of the day was when he was behind the register not doing anything he didn’t realise how long 20 minutes could take. Hitoka had called him out on whining about it already.  
  
He turned to her.  
  
“Say,” she hummed in an upbeat way, but not looking up from her phone, “Have you ever been in a relationship?”  
  
Hitoka shrieked and flinched so hard that she had to fumble to catch her phone again.  
  
“W-wh-what makes you say that?” She stuttered in his direction.  
  
“It’s just something I’ve been thinking about lately,” he turned away from her and smirked, “but your reaction makes me really curious.”  
  
“I, well, uhh…” she fumbled with her phone in her hand, “I may or may not have had a brief kinda sorta relationship before…”  
  
Kei frowned at her. That wasn’t really helpful. “Have or have not, which one?”  
  
Hitoka looked as if she had bitten into a lemon. “I had a relationship, briefly, but it was nothing big or official.”  
  
Kei hummed, turning away from her again. At least this was like an actual answer.  
  
“Who was it with?”  
  
Since he had known her all of high school but had not known about the relationship he had expected it to be some random he had never met. He certainly didn’t expect her to flinch again, this time actually dropping her phone and cursing as she picked it up.  
  
Now this was interesting.  
  
“It’s someone you know.”  
  
“I figured as much, going from that reaction.”  
  
“…It was someone from the team.”  
  
“Well that doesn’t narrow it down much, does it?”  
  
Hitoka shook her head.  
  
Kei sighed, he hated playing guessing games like this, but seeing how red she was it seemed like he would have no other choice.  
  
“Was it the shrimp?”  
  
Hitoka laughed, she seemed more relaxed instantly. “No, I don’t think Shoyou had ever noticed anyone other than Tobio since day one.”  
  
Kei nodded, he could agree to that much. It had been a pain.  
  
Who else was there though?  
  
“That quiet first year that always snuck up on you and asked you questions about receiving?”  
  
Hitoka squeezed her mouth shut and shook her head. There was a challenging look on her face, like she was 100% certain that he wouldn’t be able to guess who she had a brief relationship with.  
  
Kei didn’t like that look.  
  
Okay, He had to be smart about it, figure out who she was dating in secret, for a short time, and unwilling to tell him about it.  
  
“Was it a senior?”  
  
Her face paled immediately, a good reaction.  
  
“Was it the captain?”  
  
Hitoka relaxed again, and shook her head. A bust then.  
  
A senior but a scandal.  
  
“You didn’t date a teacher, did you?”  
  
“Oh god no, Kei, who do you hold me for?”  
  
But what other sort of relationship would you hide from old friends, even years later?  
  
“Was it the senior manager?”  
  
Hitoka smiled then, and nodded. She actually looked at the ground, seemingly lost in thought with a gentle blush before she told her story to Kei.  
  
“Kiyoko was my first experience with girls. I asked her out because I thought  I’d have nothing to lose since she was way out of my league and also much older than me. But against all hope she agreed to go out with me.” Hitoka chuckled then, “I was way too new and shy to the whole subject then, so I asked her to keep it on the down low, I don’t think she ever told anyone.”  
  
Kei hummed, that was a sound story. He was displeased with himself, though, for wearing heteronormative glasses when he was chasing a guy himself.  
  
Hitoka’s face turned cheeky again, Kei immediately got weary of that face.  
  
“How come mister Saltyshima is asking me questions about love all of sudden?”  
  
Well, he couldn’t do her the favour of being embarrassed by the topic, and she had shared her own adventures after all.  
  
“I laid eyes on someone.”  
  
“What? I didn’t expect you to just right out say it! Who is it? Do I know them? Have you talked to them? What are they like?”  
  
Kei vaguely regretted sharing his personal life with Hitoka. Well, better Hitoka than a part of the idiot duo.  
  
“I don’t have anything to hide so there is no point in keeping secrets. It’s my upstairs neighbour. No, you don’t. He is…”  
  
Kei heard Hitoka’s gentle gasp at the pronouns, but decided that Kuroo’s character had to be described first.  
  
Kei smiled, “he is the biggest dork.” Hitoka aw-ed at him. “He is incredibly nerdy and super fun and somehow still athletic. A real package deal.” He couldn’t believe himself gushing about another person like he was some sort of school girl with a crush, but he supposed stuff like that would come eventually, and at least he had Hitoka to listen to him dream.  
  
“His worst quality is how good he looks,” he heard Hitoka sputter then, evidently amused by the comment. “It makes it hard to talk to him sometimes. Wonderful to look at, though. I met his friends the other day, and every single one of them is eye candy, and yet he stood out from them simply by the way he laughs and holds himself.” He couldn’t remember the last time he had talked about another person at such length. It felt weird.  He played with his fingers as he trailed off.  
  
Hitoka was giving him a dreamy look, one he didn’t like because it made him feel like a young girl talking to her friends about her crush. Well, that’s probably what he was at that moment, he supposed.  
  
“I’m really happy you get to have that. I hope you guys work out.” Hitoka’s tone was way too gentle for his liking.  
  
“Well firstly I don’t know if he is gay, and secondly he just came out of a complicated relationship so I’m sure that he’s not eager to get into another one too quick.”  
  
Hitoka giggled, “it’s called ‘rebound’, Kei.” Kei frowned at her, which made her giggle more. “Come on, let's close up.”


	12. New friend

It had been at least two days since he’d last seen Kuroo, which may explain why he was so utterly unprepared to see him on the stairs, descending them like he was some sort of stairway deity.   
  
God, this guy had become radiant since Kei had started that relationship drama. He should start relationship drama more often. Or maybe not. He was certain that his heart was beating irregularly.   
  
“Morning, Tsukki, don’t you have class?” Ah there it is, the annoying nickname.   
  
“No, Shiroo, class was cancelled for today because the teacher has a bug that is definitely not a hangover.”   
  
Kuroo fake frowned at him. “Come on, you know that's not my real name.”   
  
“Sorry, Coral, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”   
  
“Rude, Tsukki.” Kuroo said smirking, descending further down the stairs out of Kei’s sight.   
  
Kei took a deep, shaky breath while unlocking his apartment and sank to his knees to have Tadashi bark at him and lick his face in joy.   
  
He needed guidance, someone with experience that he could talk to and ask what the fuck to do about the situation.   
  
The idiot duo were out of the question for one because he doubted they’d be able to have an intelligent conversation, and he didn’t want them on his case because there was probably no way to get them off it again.   
  
His brother was out of the question as well because of similar reasons of keeping people off his case.   
  
Hitoka already knew more than she should.   
  
Thinking of Hitoka gave him an idea though.   
  
He opened his phone and looked at a new contact he had labelled ‘Yakuza boy’ because ‘you guys are pet kin’ and ‘he is hot and freshly single if you wanna get out there and get over your hot neighbour’.   
  
Well it never hurt to take a chance he supposed.   
  
You, (4:15 pm): Hey Yakuza have you ever seen someone so hot they make your heart beat unhealthy?   
  
An immediate answer to his surprise.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:15 pm): What’s with the name, who are you and yes I just walked past one why?   
  
You, (4:16 pm): Sorry, I got your number from Hitoka, she said we would get along. And my neighbour is killing me.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:17 pm): It’s fine i was just surpirised. I think Hito-chan told me about you. You’re her tall tsundere friend with the dog right? And that hot neighbour issue is very relatable.   
  
Kei felt himself breathing more regularly. He got up from where he had been kneeling on the ground with one arm around Tadashi and made off to the kitchen where he would make food for the two of them and hopefully have a nice chat.   
  
You, (4: 19 pm): Well I’m tall and I have a dog but idk about being a tsundere. Also i didn’t know hot neighbours were a universal issue.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:20 pm): Well I have known Hito-chan all my life so I trust her judgement more than yours. And yes they are. Though i think having a little eye candy when you leave your appartment is honestly more of an improvement on your life than an issue.   
  
You, (4:21 pm): Hitoka told me you met at her work so i call bullshit on that life long friend part. Also i disagree on the neighbour issue.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:21 pm): Slander! To both of those!   
  
Kei chuckled silently and filled Tadashi’s bowl with food as he put on some hot water and prepared noodles and vegetables for a yakisoba. As he whisked the sauce, he got another notif.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:25 pm): Personally I think everytime you get to meet an attractive person throughout your day it should be considered a blessing. For example my cute neighbour maybe hard to talk to sometimes but everytime i see him my day is a little brighter.   
  
Kei thought about that. It was a sound theory, but not one he necessarily agreed with. In between skilletting pork and, onions and carrots he answered,    
  
You, (4:32 pm): Honestly seeing my neighbour just makes me distressed. I have no need to feel nervous, confused and on edge all the time thank you very much.    
  
You, (4:34 pm): Also if i answer slow its because i’m cooking.   
  
He didn’t get to look at his phone again until he was done, but he read as he ate.   
  
Not Yakuza, (4:36 pm): Oh is the sweet bby having a crush for the first time? Is okay, you learn to deal with it as time goes on ;) and its okay if you take your time, i expect life to get in the way of online conversation a lot.   
  
Kei was tempted to answer with “I don’t have much of a life so don’t worry too much” but he decided against it cause it seemed too emo for a first conversation with a stranger.   
  
You, (4: 58 pm): How do you deal with your neighbour?   
  
Not Yakuza, (5:02 pm): I wrote a song about him honestly.   
  
You, (5:03 pm): Seriously? You write music?   
  
Not Yakuza, (5:05 pm): Yea but don’t get too excited, i’m just a one man band with a guitar and occasionally a keyboard or whatever is at hand or a freind can provide. I just write whatever bothers me and put it on youtube. Nothing too big.    
  
Not Yakuza, (5:07 pm): Usually i write about my break ups.   
  
You, (5:09 pm): Thats cool though honestly. I love music but i don’t think i could write it and I don’t play any instruments so that option is off the table. Can you send me your youtube channel or is that too personal?   
  
Not Yakuza, (5:10 pm): Rip you but maybe you’ll find something else that helps. Also maybe one day when we know each other better and your first major impression of me isn’t that i’m an emo head you can’t keep a relationship going.    
  
Not Yakuza, (5:10 pm): Gotta keep up my cool and aloof image.   
  
You, (5:11 pm): Honestly music in general helps. My favourite artist just brought out a single that mirrors my situation exactly and i have been listening to it on repeat when I was the most confused about him.    
  
You, (5:11 pm): Also funny that you think that you are cool in my eyes…   
  
Not Yakuza, (5:12 pm): Its good to have an outlet honestly, can you send me your artist, maybe i know them ;) and you are such a rude brat honestly XD.   
  
You, (5:13 pm): Nah i think i’ll keep my music to myself, i’ve got a cool and aloof image to protect after all…   
  
Not Yakuza, (5:13 pm): So hito-chan was right about you being a tsundere.   
  
Kei giggled into the slowly darkening room, barely noticing his cooling and half eaten noodles.   
  
____   
  
The day out with Bo had been a lot more fun than Tetsuro had expected.   
  
He had expected it to be fun honestly, he always had fun going out with Bo, and going to the Zoo on such a sunny day with him and Akaashi was going to be a blast.   
  
But something felt different that day. Somehow the colours seemed more vibrant, jokes funnier, the sun more warming, and ice cream more refreshing.   
  
He felt more alive than he had in quite some time.   
  
He had felt it for a few days now. Breaking up with Ayumi had been painful, the time after that had felt even worse, and every now and again he had thought about crawling back to her and asking for forgiveness just so he wouldn’t have to be alone and have another failed relationship on his tally mark.   
  
But a few days passed and Akaashi broke into his home to make him food and flood the apartment with sunshine and fresh air and him and Kenma and Akaashi ate their first real meal together in a long time.   
  
And Tetsuro felt alive.   
  
He felt taller, younger, stronger, more capable. He cooked more, he went out more, he wrote music that didn’t hurt and he went back to training where he got to see not only his friends, but to his surprise his cute neighbour as well, who seemed to get cozy with his friends.   
  
Tetsuro wasn’t looking for a relationship to fill the void in his heart anymore. He cuddled Kenma, went out with friends, wrote music, and cooked some meals with relative success. Each day had something new and exciting to bring, and every day was a fucking blast.   
  
After an exhausting but absolutely delightful day at the zoo he sent all the pictures he took throughout the day to Bo, and Bo sent all his pictures to him. Kuroo lied on his bed, one hand in Kenma’s fur and the other badly cropping out every instance of Bo making a terrible face in a pic of that day to make into a collage to send to Bo, and after getting a severely positive reaction from the guy, as a comment from Akaashi which Tetsuro in and of itself considered the highest praise because getting Akaashi to react to jokes was the hardest task in the world to people that weren’t Bo.   
  
He put his phone down ready to sleep, but was too giddy to so he picked it back up again to send a message to ‘tsundere friend’.   
  
You, (9:37 pm): Say what’s your favourite animal?   
  
An immediate response, he didn’t expect that.   
  
Tsundere friend, (9:37 pm): Easy, bearded dragon, next question.   
  
You, (9:38 pm): Ooh, exotic response, didn’T expect that. Why bearded dragons?   
  
Tsundere friend, (9:38 pm): Badass name. Closest you can get to having a dinosaur in your house. What’s yours?   
  
You, (9:39 pm): Thats the best fucking answer you could have given I love this. It’s cats.   
  
Tsundere friend, (9:40 pm): Really? How mainstream. I honestly thought this question was a set up to you introducing me to some weird new animal you saw today or smth.   
  
You, (9:41 pm): Shut up cats are great you heathen. And i saw a lot of weird animals today but nothing new and nothing of note.   
  
Tsundere friend, (9:41 pm): Really? You didn’t tell me you were gonna see my high school sports club today.   
  
Tetsuro actually snorted at that. Texting Hitoka’s friend on a whim had been a good idea.   
  
——   
  
The walk back from the vet led over campus. Kei liked his campus. It had modern buildings and green patches and overall a very nice aesthetic. None of which he noticed because he looked at the prescription in his hand and the unopened package next to it.   
  
_ I didn’t even know that dogs could have asthma _ . It made sense of course. Asthma was an illness as any other so logically dogs would have the ability to have it too.   
  
Kei’s impending storm of overthinking and worry was interrupted by Tadashi barking loudly and shooting off. Dammit, he had concentrated on his worry too much and let go of Tadashi’s leash.   
  
He shot after his boy in between crowds of people and yelled his name so he’d come back.   
  
He found him not far from where they were before attacking a poor person's leg who really didn’t deserve it. He pulled Tadashi back by his collar and wrapped the leash around his hand several times.   
  
“Tadashi, off. Off! Down. Now stay and be quiet.” He turned to the poor person he unwillingly attacked. “I’m sorry my dog just went for you like that, I shouldn’t have-”   
  
Of course. Of fucking course it had to be Kuroo that Tadashi shot off to attack.   
  
Kuroo, with a perplexed look on his face and what looked like curry all over his shirt. Oh god that had been Tadashi’s fault, hadn’t it?   
  
“Dude, it’s fine. I needed a shower anyway. I haven’t changed my clothes in like a week.”   
  
Kei opened his mouth to comment on it, but was stuck between his innate desire to insult, and his new found desire to be nice to someone for once in his life.   
  
“I had a big project due today and it took up a lot of my time so stuff like selfcare took a backseat for some time. I think I didn’t eat anything all of wednesday. But i can’t quite say, it’s all a blur. That’s why I wanted to treat myself to the Thai Curry they have here before I’d go home but-”   
  
“Let me buy you a new one!” Kei said immediately, and with more enthusiasm than he had ever mustered up in his life. Damn, it seemed that since the shrimp moved away his body or mind or something was trying to make up for the new found lack of noise and annoyingness by producing its own.   
  
Kuroo giggled though. God, who allowed giggling to be hot? “Sounds good. keen to have lunch together? I know a good place to eat.”   
  
——   
  
He could see their uni from here. It truly was a magical view.   
  
There was a reasonably small pond between them and the building. A line of trees, and then a street. Tadashi was having the time of his life chasing ducks and pigeons around the water. Kei tried to call him back a few times, for one, because he didn’t want him to shoot off and not come back by running onto the street or something, and also because the vet had just told them to not overdo it with the exercise. Of course the boy wouldn’t listen. Tsukki let him go for now, let him have his fun.   
  
“This place is lovely.”   
  
“So direct. I would have expected you to say something along the lines of ‘well I suppose I don’t hate it’ honestly.”   
  
Kei smirked at the other. “Well I suppose it’s a nice place until the first pigeon shits on your head.”   
  
Kuroo let go of a hearty hyena laugh that Kei couldn’t help but be smitten by. They dug into their food for quite a while. Tadashi started loudly barking at a duck that had escaped into the water. It seemed the birds had discovered that Tadashi wouldn’t go near water if his life depended on it.   
  
“So you know I was being a biochemical gremlin this last week,” Kuroo said when he was mostly done with his food, “but what is getting you out of the house in the middle of the day?”   
  
Kei watched Tadashi have a particularly vicious battle with a brave duck that attacked him instead of retreating into the water. Tadashi barked at it in a high pitch and looked over his shoulder to do so, putting his butt as a protective buffer between his face and the vicious bird.    
  
It looked like a particularly loud mexican stand-off.   
  
“Tadashi started making weird noises lately so I took him to the vet to have him checked up. Turns out he has asthma, I thought he was just bad at eating and more easily out of breath than usual. I didn’t even know dogs could have asthma.”   
  
Kuroo hummed. “I’ve seen dogs sneeze before, but come to think of it, I’ve never seen one cough.”   
  
“It sounds really weird.” Kei said with a slight smirk. He hadn’t even recognised it as a cough at first after all. He turned more serious though. “I worry about him though. He could have an attack any moment, especially when he plays like this.” Tadashi was sneaking up to a sleeping huddle of geese, and Kei sincerely hoped that Tadashi wasn’t about to do what he was definitely about to do. “I have the inhaler and I was shown how to use it, but I’ve never actually used one before. Let alone on a dog. You feel me?”   
  
Kuroo hummed, also transfixed on the impending doom that was about to befall Tadashi at the hands of the geese.   
  
“I had similar fears when Kenma started getting sick.”    
  
Kei’s eyebrows shot up. “What did he have?”   
  
“Food allergies. They came one at a time but in rapid succession. And they’re all really stupid.”   
  
“What is he allergic to?”   
  
“Most meats, rice, potatoes, and gluten, among other things.”   
  
Kei felt himself giggling lightly. “I didn’t even know that you could be allergic to potatoes.”   
  
“Yea it was news to me then too. Also turns out getting cat food for him is pretty hard.”   
  
“What does he eat then?”   
  
“Well there is one brand he can still eat. It is specifically allergy friendly, but it’s expensive and hard to find. It’s legit cheaper to just cook for him. I just get the package food for when I don’t have the energy to cook for him.”   
  
Kei was so caught up in Kuroo’s face that he barely registered a word that came out of his mouth. After a few seconds of silence he caught himself though.   
  
“Wha-” Loud barking interrupted him. Tadashi was running at them followed by a horde of angry geese.   
  
“Oh shit, let’s get out of here.” Kuroo said before taking Kei’s hand and shooting off.   
  
Kei had to use the inhaler on Tadashi once they were in safety, and it wasn’t even half as bad as his worry had led him to believe.   
  
Walking home with Kuroo was even better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God i hate writing text messages. why did i think this would be a good sub plot? kill me


	13. Brave souls love with all they have

Kuroo Tetsuro was a 23 year, fully grown man that had absolutely zero issue with his ex dropping by one last time to pick up her things.  
  
“I’m sure that is not your spatula miss Ayumi.”  
  
“The cat design is obviously mine.”  
  
Okay this was a lie. Hence the reason why Tetsuro had locked himself into his bed room, cowered beside his bed and covering his ears shaking violently. He didn’t even have Kenma on his side, the damn cat was outside getting on Ayumi’s nerves apparently.  
  
Just cowering and shaking was driving him crazy though, he needed something to do with his hands, something to distract his racing mind with, possibly someone to talk to. Someone neutral who wasn’t properly involved in the situation.  
  
You, (5:34 pm): hey what are you doing right now do you have time?  
  
Tsundere friend, (5:35 pm): sure for the time being, whatsup?  
  
“I think that’s all. I just need my pillow and alarm clock from Tetsu’s room.”  
  
You, (5:35 pm): there is an investion of terrible people in my house and i can’t breathe  
  
Tsundere friend, (5:36 pm): can you leave for the time being and come back when they’re gone?  
  
Insistent knocking on Tetsuro’s locked door. “Tetsu, let me in I need to get my things from your room!”   
  
Tetsuro’s heart stopped for a beat before racing out of rhythm again. He tried to breathe through it, unsuccessfully. He opened the door.  
  
“There you are,” Ayumi said, avoiding eye contact, “I’ll just be in and out and gone. Don’t mind me.” Kuroo nodded wordlessly as he shot past her into the kitchen.  
  
He started to hyperventilate again. Akaashi put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Leave. We’ll keep an eye on her.” Kuroo nodded again, a little out of it still; but this time looking at the other party. Bo was blocking his view into his bedroom with his broad back. He noticed Kenma slipping between Bo’s legs into his bedroom before he decided to just take his coat and run.  
  
He stood outside his apartment door, breathing deeply. It was easier now. He came back to his senses and checked his pockets: Keys, wallet, phone.  
  
Phone.  
  
He wrote a text.  
  
You, (5:44 pm): I’m getting some fresh air  
  
He held onto his phone tightly until he got a response back  
  
Tsundere friend, (5:45 pm): good, do you need a distraction or something?  
  
You, (5:45 pm): no i’ll jsut go on a walk, thanks though  
  
Tsundere friend, (5:46 pm): i’m here if you need boring fun facts of various animals if you need them  
  
Tetsuro actually giggled at that, feeling stronger already.  
  
He walked down exactly one set of stairs before stopping before a particularly interesting door. A door unassuming like any other in the building, but with endless possibilities of cute blondes, loud dogs, nerdy conversation, and easy embarrassment on the other side.  
  
He knocked, and his knocking was drowned out by loud barking.  
  
“Tadashi god, just shut up for once.” Came from behind said door. Tetsuro felt more at peace already.  
  
The door opened.  
  
“Kuroo.” Tsukki said breathlessly, Tetsuro assumed that under normal circumstances the guy wouldn’t struggle holding that dog so much, but resistance such as that seemed to strain his stamina.  
  
Tetsuro couldn’t contain a smile, a sight for sore eyes, chicken soup for the stressed-out soul, a cup of hot cocoa on a freezing winter night for the wrecked heart.  
  
“Is something the matter with you, Kuroo?”  
  
Tetsuro coughed to get himself back into the correct headspace.  
  
“Do you mind if I come in?”  
  
“Sure thing, I’ll just- I’ll.” Tetsuro watched mildly bemused as Tsukishima, who was a tower of a man, dragged a growling and struggling dog out of the entryway and presumably into some sort of lockable room to make space and peace for Tetsuro. Tetsuro hung his coat into the entryway and made himself at home in the kitchen.  
  
“Can I make you something to drink? It’s uh,” Tsukki squinted at time on the oven, “too late for coffee.”  
  
Tetsuro waved him off. “Just water or something is fine.”  
  
Tsukki nodded and washed his hands in the sink. “So what brings you here?” He asked. “Iced tea?”  
  
Tetsuro nodded and weighed his options for information distribution in his head. He accepted the drink as it came to him and gave it a slight swing with his hand, as if he was some sort of wine tester checking for the quality of his drink.  
  
“My ex is at my place taking all her stuff out. Was getting too stressful so I got out.”  
  
Tsukki furrowed his brow. “I would offer some alcohol for that, but I don’t actually have any.”  
  
Tetsuro giggled. “Also it’s too close to practice to start drinking now.”   
  
Tsukki swung his own iced tea in a similar wine tasting manner.  
  
“Too late for coffee, too early for alcohol. What a stupid time to drink together.”  
  
Tetsuro hid his giggle behind his water glass.  
  
“Is it hard, seeing her?” Tetsuro looked up at Tsukki’s now serious face. “Is that why you had to leave?”  
  
Tetsuro actually had to think about that.  
  
“In a way. I connect her with bad reactions and negative emotions now, so I don’t really look forward to engaging with her.”  
  
“Did you love her?” Tsukki asked, with impossibly big eyes. He really looked young then, and Tetsuro felt somewhat old. He thought about it though, truly thought about it.  
  
Did he? Did he really?  
  
“I suppose I did.” He thought for a moment. “I loved her. I loved them all. Maybe I even still do in some cases.”  
  
Tsukki looked even less happy then.  
  
“And now you don’t even like to look at her.”  
  
“Yea I suppose there is that.”  
  
Tsukki drowned the rest of his glass as if that was the solution to Tetsuro’s heart troubles. “Love is a terrible thing then if it leaves you in a state like that.”  
  
Tetsuro looked him straight in the eye then. There weren’t many things he was certain of, but this one he was.  
  
“If nothing else, love certainly keeps things interesting. And I’d rather have something that makes getting up every day worth it, even if it hurts me a few weeks later.”  
  
Tense silence between them.  
  
He got a text.  
  
Other annoying owl, (6:02 pm): the pest is gone, you can come back now  
  
He locked his phone again.  
  
“Looks like the air is clear. Do you wanna go to practice together? I’d just have to get my stuff.”  
  
“Another time maybe. I’m bringing Tadashi to a friends place beforehand. I’m going out to eat with some high school friends later.”  
  
Tetsuro leaned his elbow on the kitchen counter, resting his chin on his hand. With a shit eating grin he said, “Oh Tsukki, you have friends? I assumed you’d be too salty for that.”  
  
“I do have friends, asshole.” Tsukki said, unimpressed, but nonetheless with a tiny little smile on his face. “And don’t call me that. Go get your coat, Tadashi and I will say bye to you before you go.”  
  
By the time Tetsuro had his coat and boots on he made a mental note that it was getting colder so he should wear some gloves and hat on the way to practice which he hadn’t even thought about in his rush to leave his place when Tsukki came in with Tadashi.  
  
Tsukki was still quietly scolding his dog who growled lowly. Tetsuro got into a deep squat and stretched his hand out for the little guy, who sniffed on it for a good while before apparently deciding that Tetsuro wasn’t the big threat he seemed to be.  
  
Finally deciding on being friends, the little guy started wagging his tail and yapping at him happily and in his ecstasy knocked Tetsuro off his unstable position.  
  
Tetsuro tried to divert an overly happy tongue away from his face and preferably out of his mouth if possible and only barely saw Tsukki put a phone away quickly.  
  
“What are you doing there you sneaky little man?”  
  
“Not collecting blackmail in case you’re asking.”  
  
“I wasn’t but I feel like I should have.”  
  
“Well now it’s too late. Get up, I have to be places.”  
  
Tetsuro got up and gave Tadashi one last scratch goodbye.  
  
“All of us have places to be, Tsukki.”  
  
“I told you not to call me that you pain in the ass.” Tsukki contered with a half grin. Tetsuro gave his own half grin in response.  
  
Outside of his own door he got another text.  
  
Tsundere friend (6:09): got distracted, how is things  
  
You (6:09): thigns are good, made a new freind  
  
Tsundere friend (6:10): alrigth then  
  
——  
  
Kei was proud of Tadashi. Usually he did terribly in public transport but the little dude was having a chipper day it seemed, because by the time they arrived at Hitoka’s place he had only barked at two babies and one plastic bag.  
  
As usual, Tadashi went absolutely buckwild seeing Hitoka, and yelped at her to give him attention. Hitoka immediately squatted down to him to scratch his head but nonetheless shushed the both of them.  
  
“Shoyou is asleep, he had a long trip.”  
  
Kei nodded and let the two of them in. Tadashi was reasonably quiet for his standards but still shot right past Hitoka to her couch where the shrimp was being a dead potato on it.  
  
Tadashi thoroughly slobbered the shrimps entire face who barely reacted to it aside from vaguely patting in the direction of Tadashi’s head and petting the free space on the couch next to him to invite the dog onto it. Tadashi wagged with his tail so much that his entire butt wiggled with it, jumped onto the couch and tucked himself right under Shoyou’s arm and wagged his super happy tail against the boy with a ferocity that suggested that the poor fucker would get bruises on his leg from it.  
  
Well, at least Tadashi was all cared for and done.  
  
“You ready to go?”  
  
“Always!” Hitoka said with a big smile.  
  
——  
  
Hitoka truly enjoyed her new/old role as a manager. Watching this entirely new set of strange but talented boys slowly find themselves was a lovely experience, and this time she had two more managers at her side. Usually she only saw one of them if that, but having a general guide over all was lovely.   
  
Seeing Kei train with ‘the loud owls’, that had been introduced to Hitoka as the two most difficult people to train with filled her with a special kind of pride. Seeing him block alongside Tetsu the cat enthusiast made her giddy in a completely different sort of way. And that wasn’t all, because that day her and Kei had been late, and when the two of them settled Tetsu detached himself from their little intense training group and approached her saying, “You came in with Tsukki, didn’t you? Do you know him?”   
  
“Tsukki?” She giggled, “I haven’t heard anyone call him that since high school. But yea, I was the manager of his volleyball team. We’re friends.”  
  
Tetsu nodded and hummed. “Hey, remember that cute and confusing neighbour I told you about?” Oh this was going to be exciting! When she had given Kei Tetsu’s number she had hoped for something to happen, but it was beyond her wildest dreams for them to already know each other let alone like each other already. And not knowing about it. She vowed to tend to this flame of young love carefully and with precision.  
  
And a healthy dose of drama and secrecy.  
  
——  
  
They were supposed to meet the shrimp with Tadashi after practice, Hitoka had sent him directions since it wasn’t far or complicated.  
  
And then the way from the local supermarket.  
  
And then their location from the local high school.  
  
“Hey guys!!”  
  
Kei and Hitoka turned around the where Shoyou’s loud and excited voice came from.  
  
And not where it should have come from according to Hitoka’s direction giving.  
  
They waved him over. Shoyou was not out of breath, but visibly breathing more heavily like someone who had been running. Tadashi was completely exhausted, tongue out as far as it went and struggling to breathe. His tail wagged like crazy though and Kei’s initial fear of an asthma attack wasn’t confirmed.  
  
Hitoka looked at her phone again. “The train station is ten minutes from here, if we go now we should arrive at the same time as Tobio’s train.”  
  
“Let’s go then, woo hoo!” Shoyou responded, shooting off again.  
  
“No running! We _just_ came from practice and you’re holding my asthmatic dog!” Kei yelled after him.  
  
——  
  
For the sake of his own sanity and the health of his dog, Kei had taken Tadashi back into his own hold.  
  
Shoyou, next to him, was excitedly jumping from one leg to the other. He radiated so much energy Kei feared he might get infected.  
  
“I thought you guys kept in contact.” He asked the hyperactive shrimp. “Skyping, messages, daily pictures.”  
  
Shoyou turned to him with the biggest grin on his face.  
  
“We do!” He said too loudly. “But it's different to see him again! I get to feel him with my hands and I get to smell him!”  
  
Kei’s first thought was _gross_. His following thoughts were, _doesn’t that drive you crazy then? Wanting to be near someone and not being able to because they are so far away?_ _  
__  
__Don’t you wish you could just break it off and go about your life normally and without the added stressor?_ _  
__  
__Or is letting go of someone you love even worse?_ _  
_  
A train that Hitoka confirmed as Tobio’s pulled into the station. Shoyou technically stood still but was somehow vibrating where he stood and released a sound that was similar to that of a tea kettle boiling.  
  
_Is all of that even worth it then? When not loving someone anymore hurts you in the sense that you are too scared of them to look them in the eye, and loving them means you go crazy anticipating the day where you get to see them again, because inevitably you are going to be separated by some means or other. Be it death._ _  
__  
_ There he was, the man of the hour. Just as Kei noticed him and he noticed the group he dropped everything he had in his hand, because he got an arm load of ginger shrimp shooting straight at him.  
  
Kei tended to forget just how high Shoyou could jump.  
  
And he couldn’t help but be impressed by Tobio’s ability to just pluck him out of thin air.  
  
And then they stood there, Shoyou in Tobio’s arms, and Tobio spinning the both of them. It seemed like they couldn’t quite decide between kissing each other numb and just cradling the face of the other. But no matter which action they chose to indulge in, there was never so much as a centimeter distance between them.  
  
Kei felt an uncomfortable pull in his heart, but more than that, he recognised the all consuming glow the two of them radiated. Like sunshine and peace had found a home and were trying to start a family.  
  
_So it must be worth it after all._  
  
——  
  
They went to a buffet together. There weren’t many that allowed dogs but this one did and the Idiot duo had insisted on seeing Tadashi again. Also Kei was never against taking Tadashi places. Hitoka had gotten too experimental with her selection of food and barely managed to eat any of it, then got too nervous about wasting it all and getting a new plate so she powered through insisting it was fine. The idiot duo had somehow turned the act of eating as much food as you liked into a competition and were already three full plates deep by the time Hitoka had finished her first punishment. Kei himself had honestly picked more food to secretly feed Tadashi under the table than to feed himself with.  
  
It would be a cold day in hell before he’d admit it, but he sure as hell had missed them.  
  
Thanks to all the empty plates the idiot duo produced though they got visited by their waitress a lot. Thanks to Tadashi they even talked to her a bit.  
  
She was witty and not above making snarky comments about the loud guys eating a lot, and apparently she grew up surrounded by dogs all her life so when Tadashi loudly barked at her she was just even more enthralled by him and managed to calm him down enough to give him head scratches.  
  
She was chill and suave and her unruly black hair fell into her face, possibly limiting her vision. She reminded him of Kuroo in a way.  
  
Hitoka, next to him was grinning widely.  
  
“What’s with that look.” He asked her; displeased.  
  
“You don’t usually talk this animatedly.” She said still grinning.  
  
“She reminds me of a certain neighbour of mine.” He said disgruntled.  
  
Hitoka contained a scream, just barely. “So you have a type!”  
  
“A type of what?” The king asked, sitting down with his plate. His boyfriend was still in the sea food section seemingly arguing with two random kids about shrimp. How fitting.  
  
Hitoka looked at him with big and excited eyes, but nonetheless contained her words. He appreciated that.  
  
“You’re not spilling, Hitoka.”  
  
“Please!”  
  
“I said no.”  
  
“Pleaseeeeeee!”  
  
“Still no.”  
  
“What is Saltyshima being salty about?” The shrimp asked sitting down as well. Great, now there was the whole squad.  
  
“Nothing.” Hitoka said at the same time as Tobio said, “His type.”  
  
“Oh whatever, just tell.”  
  
Hitoka jumped out of her seat and in her excitement almost went onto the table.  
  
“Kei has a crush!”  
  
“Whaaaaat?” The shrimp said in disbelief at the same time as his boyfriend said, “really?” Without any inflection.  
  
The lot of them looked at him.  
  
He sighed.  
  
“It’s my neighbour.” ‘Oh’s and ‘ah’s and vaguely disinterested grumbling. “I have a picture.” More excited ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s and a vaguely interested raised eyebrow.  
  
Kei took out his phone to show the picture of Kuroo to the excited crowd.  
  
“So the black blur Tadashi is licking is your crush then?” Shoyou commented.  
  
Kei hummed.  
  
“What do you like about him?” Tobio asked, resorting back to stuffing his face with various foods.  
  
“He is,” he thought about it, really thought about what he genuinely liked about his neighbour, “he is charming, enticing even. He is fun to be around and interesting to talk to. He somehow made it through the worst of times and is still smiling.”  
  
“Wow,” the shrimp said in awe, “I didn’t know you knew that many compliments.” Kei sent him a poisonous look across the table.  
  
The other two giggled and Kei couldn’t help but feel a bit light-hearted himself. Even if he refused to admit that. Or show it.  
  
Their waitress came back and Kei couldn’t contain the tiniest smile.  
  
“Four plates, you guys alone, aren’t you going to combust soon?” She asked the idiot duo who thanked her for her services and were about to get up and go to the meat section to have a new sort of competition there.  
  
“Never!” They said with determination before shooting off.  
  
“They have one brain cell and its dedicated to eating.” She said in genuine awe. Hitoka giggled at the comment.  
  
“Sorry, that was probably a rude thing to say about your friends.”  
  
“No, no,” Hitoka answered, “you’re right.” The girls giggled.  
  
“Well, they have two,” Kei chimed in, patting Tadashi’s head which was resting on his lap, “the other one is dedicated to volleyball.”   
  
The waitress snorted, Hitoka said, “oh god, you’re right,” in amazement.  
  
Another dog came in, Kei had only just barely time to register that it was unfathomably small before Tadashi went off under the table trying to tear the newcomer a new one.  
  
“Tadashi, stop, no! Tadashi shut up.”  
  
Instead of listening to him he started wheezing and making those weird sounds that Kei had identified as coughing. Kei panicked for a second before collecting himself and getting the inhaler out of his jacket.  
  
All good, Tadashi could breathe again and had calmed down enough to have forgotten about the new dog.  
  
“Oh, is your dog asthmatic?” The waitress asked, engaged in the scene and arms full of plates.  
  
“Yea, only found out a few days ago.”  
  
She leaned down slightly to coo at Tadashi who wagged his tail at her attention. “What a troublesome little boy you are.” She straightened back up and looked at Kei with bright eyes. “My first dog had it too, it’s what did him in in the end. It really messed me up at the time, had known that dog all my life.”  
  
Kei didn’t feel that happy anymore.  
  
“He’s eight.”  
  
“Oh, getting on in years then?” She said, winking at Tadashi who still seemed to adore her. “Better watch your health then old timer.”  
  
The waitress was called by one of the cooks and she nodded them all a quick goodbye before leaving.  
  
Kei didn’t like her that much anymore.  
  
Tadashi wasn’t old, let alone dying. He was his first and oldest friend.  
  
Right?  
  
Tadashi looked at him excitedly from under the table, tail wagging, bright-eyed and energetic. The idiot duo had a race back to the table and the king made fun of the shrimp for spilling half of what was on his plate when the king himself had not only won the race but also kept complete control over his food.  
  
Hitoka sat down as well with a plate full of desert. She gave him a strawberry shortcake.  
  
“I missed what happened but you look like you need it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to that one commenter who pointed out that hitoka should know that they know each other and have each others number. i overlooked it but you knew and now we have an excellent sub plot ;)


	14. Crazy with the heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tsukki is horny
> 
> also tsukki does the tango for one if you get my meaning so be aware of that

His first thought when he heard hissing and barking from outside was ‘omg Kenma’. His second was ‘nah, can’t be him, he can’t get out’.    
  
The fighting noises were too loud though to be just outside, and he recognised Miss Xi’s voice calling back her dog weakly.   
  
Worry got ahead of Kuroo as he double checked his front door.   
  
Which stood ajar.   
_   
_ _ Omg Kenma _ !   
  
Before he could have a second thought he ran outside and downstairs where the hissing and growling was still happening. Four flights to the ground floor where he saw Kenma scratching at a dachshund on a leash held back by an elderly woman with a walking cane. Mrs. Xi.   
  
“Kenma come here, bad boy!” He crouched down to pick his cat up. “I’m very sorry Misses Xi, I must have left my door open and he just escaped. I just hope he wasn’t too much trouble,” Kenma weakly fought against the tight grip Kuroo had on him, vaguely scratching towards the direction of the little wiener.   
  
“Oh I think all the trouble has been repaid my boy.” The cheeky grin on her face made Kuroo double take. It took him noticing her eyes raking up and down his body appreciatively to he realised what he was wearing.   
  
Namely not a lot.   
  
You see, after getting his mail in hopes of hearing from his lecturer about his chords he must have not closed his door properly since he had gotten positive affirmations on the matter and was still high on the endorphins of having his favourite teacher compliment him and his work. They would meet later that day to talk about the issue, and Kuroo had hopped into the shower to get ready.   
  
After his clean up he simply hadn’t bothered to put anything other than underwear on, cooking for himself and his cat, so when he noticed Kenma missing he was mostly naked, still slightly damp, and vulnerable in an open apartment.   
  
Kenma had evidently found the opportunity to start fights with random dogs again, as he liked to do, and in his hurry Kuroo had shot after him without thinking about his situation or possible consequences of his actions.   
  
And now he was covered in nothing but underwear, damp skin, and a now calm and purring cat. Squirming uncomfortably under the attentive gaze of an elderly chinese woman that lived a few floors below him.   
  
“Well I will be going back home then and… yea…” He waved at her as he went away, and she cheerfully told him to drop by whenever he wanted.   
  
He walked up the stairs as fast as politely possible.   
  
When he stood in front of his closed door again he breathed deeply. God how humiliating, at least the day couldn’t get any worse.   
  
Wait, closed door?   
  
He already knew the mistake he must have made reflexively jamming the door shut on his way out but he tested the door nonetheless.   
  
Nope, yep. Definitely closed as these doors tended to be when you closed them from the outside and didn’t have a key with you.   
  
What now?   
  
——   
  
Kei would have a busy day, and he had slept longer than intended.    
  
He double checked his phone and wallet and a lot more stuff he wouldn’t actually need when taking Tadashi on his morning walk, but he was stressed for his first lecture and that made him obsessively tidy.   
  
He walked out and was struck dead by an impressive sight.   
  
“Heya.” The attractive naked person said in front of him. Kei just barely got to register that people that attractive and naked should not be allowed to wear form-fitting black boxer briefs and nothing else when the alarming noise happened.   
  
Tadashi shot off to attack Kuroo, who took several steps back and held a tighter grip on Kenma who hissed and struggled and even screamed.   
  
It took them longer than it should but eventually they got their respective pets down to hostile hissing and growling and Kuroo got the opportunity to say,   
  
“I locked myself out, can I come in? Also, can you call the landlord?”    
  
Kei got a dry throat again looking at this severely attractive and distressed person and just managed to nod and show him inside.    
  
He closed the door behind the other as quickly as politely possible and sunk against it to calm down.   
  
When he could form real thoughts in his brain again he shot a quick text to Tetsu:   
  
You (7:33 am): just saw my crush naked what do i do????   
  
He felt a lot like the shrimp with all the question marks, but distressing times called for distressing consequences.   
  
No message back from Tetsu.   
  
He had probably been spoiled with fast Tetsu responses in the past but why did he have to choose  _ now _ of all times to not text back?   
  
He breathed again. He got up and opened his door again. Inside he found Kuroo mostly naked and somewhat lost in his living room patting his now calm and purring cat.   
  
“Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and take some clothes from the closet if you need them. I’m going on a walk with Tadashi, see you later.”    
  
They nodded at each other and Kei closed the door again.   
  
Once outside of the building he picked up his phone again. No messages from Tetsu. Damn bastard.   
  
He called the Landlord.   
  
Mailbox.   
  
What a day.   
  
——   
  
After an extra long walk with Tadashi he came back home. Outside of his building he checked for Tetsu’s messages again. No news. Damn bastard. Then he called his landlord again on the way up the stairs, leaving a voicemail again.   
  
He opened the door and announced himself to be back home, letting go of Tadashi’s leash reflexively.   
  
Tadashi immediately shot off to where Kenma was lounging on Kei’s carpet, barking loudly as if to declare war.   
  
Kenma smacked him once on the nose with his paw. Tadashi stilled, flabbergasted, then went back to poke Kenma with his nose. Kenma smacked his face again.   
  
Tadashi then opted to lie down in front of Kenma, tail wagging like crazy, nudging the seemingly unimpressed cat with his nose every now and again, getting smacks on the nose in return.   
  
“That went better than I expected.” Kei said to the room in general, taking off his outside clothes.   
  
“Yea, I didn’t think Kenma would get along with a dog at any point in his life.”   
  
Before Kei could even form a response or cohesive thought on that matter he was struck dead by a brain-melting sight again.   
  
More specifically the sight of Kuroo sitting at his kitchen counter, wearing his shirt.   
  
And nothing else.   
  
“Is something the matter?”    
  
Kei didn’t have enough active brain cells left to come up with a good response.   
  
“You’re not wearing pants.” He whispered instead, staring at long, tan, muscular legs.   
  
“Yea, the only pants you have in your closet is skinny jeans, and gotta say, I haven’t fit into those since middle school.”   
  
Kei believed that. He was enthralled by the slight movement Kuroo’s muscular thighs did as the legs untangled and opened a little wider.   
  
Kei had always been jealous of the other boys in the club. Once they got serious about Volleyball and strength training they all bulked up. Even Hinata got a six pack and thighs you could roast over a fighter. Only Noya, maybe, had his same case of skinny bitch disease.   
  
Right now he wasn’t jealous.   
  
_ He was appreciative _ .   
  
The legs closed again, crossing the other way from how they had been before. Kei’s eyes moved up the other’s torso, noticing how much his jersey was stretched over Kuroo’s chest and arms.   
  
_ Holy shit he’s ripped… _   
  
Then he reached the face, which grinned smug and knowingly into a coffee mug, making straight eye contact with him.   
  
_ Holy shit he noticed me checking him out _ !   
  
_ Wait, were those leg movements intentional _ ???   
  
Kei was having very many thoughts at once and not aware as to how to process any of them.   
  
“I, uh-”   
  
Knocking interrupted his impending lack of a response. And while confused about not expecting visitors, he was also grateful for the excuse to not face what he had just done.   
  
He opened the door.   
  
“What’s the matter with you that you blow up my phone this morning?”   
  
Before Kei could say anything, the landlord looked past him to where Tadashi and Kenma were still doing their little game on the ground, and even worse, where Kuroo was sitting at his kitchen counter, pantsless, coffee in his hand, big grin on his face.    
  
No matter how innocently he waved at the landlord, the sort of look the landlord gave Kei meant he didn’t buy any of that. But it’s not like he could just say ‘It’s not what it looks like.’   
  
“He locked himself out.”   
  
“Aha.” The landlord said, unconvinced. “Come with me boy.” The landlord said to Kuroo, heading off.   
  
Kuroo put his cup down and picked up his cat, who released a little purr but was otherwise undisturbed.   
  
“Thanks for everything.” Kuroo whispered as he walked past.   
  
_ And winked _ .    
  
Kei failed to respond in any way and closed the door as quickly as politely as possible.   
  
He checked his phone.   
  
Where was Tetsu when you needed him?   
  
——   
  
Kei played with his food nervously instead of eating it as he read Tetsu’s eventual messages.   
  
Not Yakuza (12:02 pm): ye i get that. My old roommates were pretty shameless. Too bad they were also hot.   
  
Not Yakuza (12:05 pm): at onw point i started having sex drems about them. Not keen. Thats when i decided to move out.   
  
Great and all, but no help with his weird situation.   
  
“Who are you talking to, Tsukki?” The shrimp said from across their campus picnic table with a full mouth.   
  
“A friend.” Kei responded, disgusted at his companions' lack of table manners.   
  
“But all your friends are here.” The king stated, somewhat accurately. Table manners no better than his boyfriend’s.   
  
“Is it Tetsu?” Hitoka asked next to him, with an undeniable spark in her eye.   
  
He sighed. He really needed help, and if anyone could help him it was this lot.   
  
“How did you guys deal with seeing the person you are attracted to undress in the same changing room as you on a regular basis?”   
  
Excited chatter from every single member of the table.   
  
“One at a time please.” Kei said exasperatedly.   
  
Hitoka went first.   
  
“I’ve been intimidated by Kiyoko-san since day one. Even back when she just asked me to join the team as a manager. I thought ‘wow, such a beautiful goddess indulges a worthless peasant like me with her presence? What did I do to deserve this?’   
  
And then we shared a changing room and the first time I was busy stressing about the new environment, but when I got adjusted I realised that I would spend a lot of time with her naked next to me. And then nationals came around and we were naked in the baths together. Just us.   
  
I went crazy in the beginning. Surely she would notice me perving at her and hate me forever and never talk to me again. I couldn’t help it anymore and confessed to her before something really bad happened. And if she didn’t want me around anymore at least I would be prepared for it.   
  
To my utter surprise though she returned my feelings and at first I didn’t even know how to deal with that. I had already packed my bags to go home and cry into my mother’s arms about being a reject of society for my heinous crimes.   
  
Instead, I would now spend private naked time next to the most beautiful woman in the world. Who returned my feelings for her for whatever reason.   
  
I told her about me feeling like a seedy pervert, and she just laughed and told me it was alright, and then she started winking and putting on little shows and being more touchy with me. I REALLY didn’t know how to deal with THAT. But I think she had her fair amount of fun with me.”   
  
Hitoka shrugged. “I don’t know. In conclusion, I learned that sometimes you find people around you attractive, even people close to you. The attraction itself isn’t anything bad, even if it leaves you flustered and confused. As long as you don’t overstep your bounds you are fine.”   
  
“Wow.” The shrimp chimed in. “I didn’t even know you and Shimizu-san were dating.”   
  
“Well, I uh-” Hitoka answered, flustered.   
  
“Well as for me,” the shrimp started with too much enthusiasm for a story about awkward and inappropriate boners, “it actually took me ages to see Tobio in that light. I had so many first impressions of him to work through first. Enemy. Rival. Ally. Partner. By the time Nationals came around and the lot of us took baths together I was still in the ‘hey I don’t hate him and he isn’t actually that annoying’ stage, and there was always the three of us, so I didn’t recognise the situation as anything more intimate than usual.   
  
So the more… interesting sort of attraction slowly developed in second year. Once I fully understood what I wanted and what it meant I was too unsure of changing the status quo, making something that worked beautifully awkward with one-sided attraction, because Tobio never seemed to have that sort of interest in me.   
  
Well during nationals that year I decided to put my cards on the table, at least to be on the same page and not have awkward secrets and make everything worse.   
  
Obviously Tobio returned my feelings and now we’re here.”   
  
The grin the shrimp showed then was so blindingly bright that Kei got the sudden urge to put on sunglasses and look at something less wholesome like puppies play fighting or something.   
  
“As for me,” Tobio started, Kei had sudden regrets about asking people for their awkward boner stories. “I was attracted to Sho since day one. That includes the middle school match.”   
  
“What?!” Shoyou and Hitoka said at the same time, even Kei raised an eyebrow in surprise.   
  
“I don’t know how physical the attraction was in the beginning. But I couldn’t get him off my mind the entire time. The game, after the game, all the way until I saw him again in high school. And through all of high school to this day as well.”   
  
Hitoka awe’d gently, the Shrimp blushed intensely. Kei suddenly wished these awkward boner stories were about actual boners.   
  
“He is radiant. Addicting. Gravitating. Attractive in every sense of the word. It didn’t take long for me to want to fuck him.” A shocked gasp from his boyfriend. “I honestly don’t know how you didn’t notice me checking you out like all of first year and second year.”   
  
“Well excuse me!” Shoyou said affronted. “All you ever did was glare at me. How was I supposed to know those were your bedroom eyes?!”    
  
“I don’t know, it’s not like I have another face to make bedroom eyes with.”   
  
Shoyou stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend.   
  
Just in that moment, Kei saw a breathtaking sight; Kuroo walked through his vision in big strides, not too far away from his table.   
  
As through a miracle, Kuroo looked around and saw him, Kei raised his hands for a shy wave, Kuroo smiled and waved back.   
  
Like crows waiting for prey, the idiot duo turned around, noticing someone wave at their table and waving back.   
  
“Who’s that?” Shoyou asked him in a non-discreet way.   
  
Kei glared at him but said, “the neighbour I like,” nonetheless.   
  
Understanding spread over Shoyou’s face and in a move that Kei already dreaded Shoyou spun around in lighting speed and yelled “Hey, Kuroo-san! Come sit with us!” At full volume.   
  
“Sorry, I got an appointment with my teacher!” Kuroo yelled back, and shot off again.   
  
“Nice taste.” Shoyou said, with an appreciative thumbs up.   
  
Kei threw a piece of bread at him.   
  
Then he dug into his food.   
  
——   
  
Everybody at practice was visibly impressed by the freak quick.   
  
Personally, Kei just wanted the two idiots to shut up.   
  
Not that they ever would, now playing with the senior idiot on their side, who would holla and show support at every move they did. And who in turn had found an attentive audience to every mediocre move and lame comment he made.   
  
The only consultation was Akaashi, playing on Kei’s side, looking about as exasperated as Kei felt.   
  
“That massive ego boost will be a pain to get rid off.”   
  
Kuroo chuckled at his despair, and even Kei smirked at the shared sense of dread.   
  
“But no matter what,” Kuroo said, wiping his mouth, in a distracting sort of a way, “that quick certainly makes your head spin.”   
  
“And they haven’t seen each other in several months.” Kei said in distaste. On the other side of the net, Bokuto was teaching two attentive crows a little cheering song that they should sing at the end of every set.   
  
Kuroo raised his eyebrows. “That’s truly impressive.”   
  
Kei groaned, not wanting to talk about the idiot duo any more than absolutely necessary, but always keen to complain.   
  
“And that’s not even half of it, guess how long it took them to nail that the first time.”   
  
Kuroo shrugged, Akaashi actually contemplated the matter.   
  
“Good and in-sync players I would give about two years for this. If they can work miracles like you said,” Kei remembered very much having used a less nice word, “then I’d say about a full year.”   
  
“One week.”   
  
“What?!” Kuroo and Akaashi yelled in sync.   
  
“They met on Monday, fought all through Wednesday, got along on Friday, and nailed their freak quick by Saturday night. They beat us in a match with it, even if they struggled with it.”   
  
Kuroo and Akaashi were truly dumbstruck by that. Kei felt a sick sort of satisfaction along the lines of ‘yep thats the sort of insufferable dumb shit I had to deal with for three years.’   
  
Kuroo looked between him and the idiot duo.   
  
“Is that the couple that,” he looked at Akaashi, then back to him, “you were talking about before?”   
  
“Yep,” Kei said, “in the flesh.”   
  
Just then, Bokuto picked up Hinata and spun him around saying “You’re the best, little crow!” And Hinata giggled excitedly.   
  
Tobio, now a bit off, stared at the scene in obvious resentment. Kei saw an easy target.   
  
“Oi, your highness,” he got the attention of the group and also Tobio, “no reason to be jealous, your rival in love is a taken man.”   
  
This resulted in Shoyou teasing his boyfriend about possessive behaviour, and the king himself responding flustered and saying his demeanour was just misinterpreted.   
  
Bokuto, now no longer flustered at almost having put a wrench into a relationship, laughed at the couple’s teasing antics.   
  
Kei turned to Kuroo with a self-satisfied grin, but the expression he got back was… hard to interpret.   
  
That was definitely a cheeky grin, but there was more to it, something…   
  
_ Heated _ .   
  
“Be careful who you call out with that sharp tongue of yours.”   
  
Kei coughed to break the intense eye contact and told Akaashi to do a good serve.   
  
Akaashi, in turn, gave him a knowing look, before agreeing and then stepping back for his serve.   
  
This was going to be a long practice.   
  
——   
  
Kei had a vague feeling that he couldn’t deal with any sort of vague flirtatious gesture, hint, or look Kuroo would throw at him. But leaving practice having Shoyou noting that Kuroo had definitely checked him out and that his chances were good and he should just go for it, was even worse.   
  
Kei tried to tell him that he just had a pretty intense break-up and would NOT be keen on a new relationship with someone he barely knew so soon, but Shoyou just told him ‘you don’t know that!’   
  
Consequently, he was glad to be parting ways with the lot of them, leaving the annoying duo in Hitoka’s care.   
  
Since she was hosting the long separated couple finally reunited he had offered her his couch in case those two got too intimate, but she said it was fine.    
  
The offer was still open either way.   
  
Tadashi greeted him with the same sort of ecstasy he usually had, as if Kei had been gone for months, not just a few hours of practice.   
  
He checked his phone as he unloaded his bags in the entryway, and went to the kitchen to prepare some sort of food for himself and Tadashi.   
  
Somehow Shoyou had posted three selfies already since parting ways, there was an accident on their street an hour ago without any major losses or injuries, Nekon would start live streaming a jam sesh in about ten minutes, so far titled ‘crazy with the heat’.   
  
Kei joined the stream as it started, indulging in the otherwise silence, enjoying his food at a peak relaxed state.   
  
The jam session had the note ‘an ode to distracting people and awkward boners’.   
  
_ What a mood _ , Kei thought to himself, eating his food,  _ if that isn’t a summary of today _ .   
  
He indulged in the sound. The chords, the voice, the message of the song. Of stray looks and lack of concentration and bare skin calling for attention.   
  
Kei wouldn’t think he related much to that on any given day, but lately…   
  
Thinking back to high school, sharing a changing room with lots of charming, attractive and well-trained guys his age, in various forms of undress. He had never even thought twice about it. He had been aware of it, the topic at hand, known that it was on other people’s minds.   
  
Talking to the freak duo though, having it all relate back to his own recent experiences, maybe there was someone distracting in his past?   
  
Well if anyone made him risk a second look changing it had been Daichi-senpai or maybe Tanaka-san. Not that he noticed anything at the time, it had been more of an aesthetic appreciation then, and he would choose his attractive neighbour over either of them any time.   
  
Huh, he really didn’t have interest in… any of this until he had met Kuroo. Meeting Kuroo had unlocked…   
  
_ Desires _ .   
  
Whelp, since he was here already, maybe it was due time to go to his room and… indulge in the heat for a bit.   
  


The artist could paint quite the picture, giving Kei a nice backdrop for his new found interest in what the inside of his pants had to offer.

 

The artist sang about smart boys with clever tongues and sharp words.

 

Heated stares, keeping the other at a safe distance. Every moment tense, charged with energy.

 

Tension snapping in one hot, passionate release of energy.

 

Nails on skin, teeth in blood. Noise, noise, so much noise!   
  
Noise restrained by gags, movement restricted by chains.

 

Kei had his face planted in a pillow, breathing hard into it, gyrating hips in the air as he finished.

 

Huh, maybe he should invest in some chains. Maybe his neighbour…

 

_ Could show him the ropes. _


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "do text conversations" i said
> 
>  
> 
> "it will be fun" i said

Tetsuro always thought that some of the best ideas came to people while warm, wet and naked.   
  
So naturally, when he was washing his hair under the shower a thought occurred to him.   
  
_ I think I have Tsukki’s number and I think I’ve been texting him _ .   
  
Now to test the hypothesis.   
  
———   
  
Still wet from the shower and barely covered in a towel Tetsuro sat on his bed and held a phone in his hand.   
  
You, (7:25 am): hey kei-chan   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:27 am): call me that again and I’m blocking your number   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:28 am): whats up?   
  
Yea what’s up indeed?  _ Hey are you Tsukki from downstairs by any chance _ ?   
  
Well better to start from the beginning and to not play all his cards yet.   
  
You, (7:31 am): how did you even get this number? All i know is you texted me out of the blue one day and that we share a friend.   
  
Tsundere friend, (7:34 am): well i was talking about my neighbour to Hitoka and she said since he’s taken i should ‘get with’ her other friend who is ‘good looking and freshly single’   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7: 36 am): honestly i didn’t even want to accept the offer but eventually i needed someone to talk to   
  
Hitoka. Damn bitch. He was gonna have to chew her out.   
  
But later.   
  
You, (7:38 am): dawww, she thinks i’m good looking and wants so set me up <3   
  
You, (7:38 am): now to find out if you find me attractive ;)   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:39 am): sorry, my heart beats for tall, hot dumbasses only   
  
_ Oh my god please be Tsukki, please be Tsukki, please be Tsukki _ !   
  
You, (7:40 am): sounds like me ;)   
  
Tsundere friend, (7:40 am): you wish   
  
You, (7:41 am): i call myself a dumbass and you say ‘you wish’?   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:43 am): i already know you’re a dumbass, I was thinking about the hot part mostly   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:44 am): what’s got you so flirty today anyways, it’S odd   
  
You, (7:45 am): i feel like kei-chan gee   
  
You, (7:45 am): don’T shame me for having a good day for once you terrible person   
  
Tsundere friend, (7:46 am): i will always shame you no matter the circumstances. You should know this   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7:47 am): actually this is good timing. I need to ask you a favour and i need to ask someone who hasn’T seen my face   
  
Tsundere Friend, (7: 51 am): what do you know about bondage?   
  
Tetsuro screamed into his pillow.   
  
——   
  
If someone had asked Tetsuro how he would spend his day like, half an hour ago, his answer wouldn’t have been ‘guiding my probably crush via text messages through the early stages of bdsm-masturbation’ yet here he was.   
  
Tsundere Friend, (8:26 am): I feel awkward jsut doing it by myself   
  
You, (8:27 am): all masturbation sessions are by yourself. do you not masturbate?   
  
Tsundere Friend, (8:28 am): rarely   
  
You, (8:28 am): rarely?   
  
Tsundere freind, (9:00 am): listen, usually i do this because i woke up with a boner and can’T get rid of it. Usually i’m not interested in it   
  
You, (9:02 am): and what got you interested in it now?   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:03 am): well i have this hot upstairs neighbour i haven’t told you about and-   
  
Tetsuro punched his matrice repeatedly as to not scream loudly and alert anyone in the area that he was dying several thousand gay deaths at once.   
_   
_ _ Please be Tsukki, please be Tsukki, please be Tsukki _ ! He repeated his earlier mantra.   
  
But that would also mean that he would have awakened the sexuality of his cute downstairs neighbour whom he definitely wanted to bang.   
  
His inner romantic and strong believer in true love and soul mates was screaming loudly and banging pots and pans together in his head.   
  
You, (9:06 am): well if your hot upstairs neighbour is the only thing that get’S you going maybe you could ask him for help   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:07 am): NEVER   
  
Tsundere Friend (9:07 am): ARE YOU CRAZY HE CAN NEVER KNOW!!   
  
_ Well if your upstairs neighbour is who I think he is I can guarantee you that he would be more than fine with showing you the ropes. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ He he. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ ‘Show the ropes’ _ .   
  
You, (9:08 am): what’s the worst that could happen?   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:08 am): listen:   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:10 am): i can’t just go up to someone that i barely know and be like ‘hey i’m too dumb to masturbate can you tie me up and fuck me good and nicely please? That would be great’   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:10): i don’t even know his first name tetsu   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:11 am): he may have told me but if so i forgot   
  
_ It’s fine Tsukki. You can ask for my first name and then to be tied up and I’ll make you scream my name often and hard enough that you’ll never forget it again. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Deep breaths Tetsuro this is about him, not you _ .   
  
You, (9:13 am): there really is worse things to ask of a ‘stranger’   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:13 am): like what?   
  
You, (9:14 am): you could ask to kill his cat   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:15 am): at least when i kill his cat i get to keep my dignity   
  
You, (9:16 am): as a cat owner i’m saying ‘youch’   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:17 am): ugh, this isn’t working. I need music for this   
  
You, (9:17 am): you masturbate to music?   
  
Tsundere Friend (9:18 am): you don’t?   
  
You, (9:19 am): can’T say that I do, but this is a particular kink i can support   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:19 am): it’s not a kink, it jsut helps   
  
You, (9:20 am): That means it’S a kink   
  
You, (9:20 am): but it’s fine, i support your kink ;)   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:21 am): kink or not, this isn’T working, and i need to get to class anyways   
  
Tsundere Friend, (9:22 am): thanks for the help though, i really appreciate it   
  
_ Stop doing the doki doki’s you treacherous heart _ .   
  
You, (9:22 am): anytime   
  
Silence after that. Well, ‘Tsukki’ was gone.   
  
Tetsuro looked down at the tent in his towel.   
  
_ And you stayed _ .   
  
———   
  
After a very refreshing reproductive activity, Tetsuro made plans to get Tsukki to approach him about personal troubles.   
  
Step one was to demolish the barrier of ‘some guy I barely know’ by getting them to be closer as friends.   
  
The key to that would be hanging out and sharing bonding moments.   
  
Tetsuro would approach that barrier by luring Tsukki into his home.   
  
This lead to Tetsuro in front of Tsukki’s apartment covered in flour and egg stains and various other baking ingredients.    
  
Immediately after he knocked and no one opened the door and there was no barking he got second thoughts about doing all of this unannounced and barely planned and what if Tsukki wasn’t there maybe class wasn’t over yet and all this was for naught-   
  
Loud barking.   
  
The barking being shushed.   
  
Tsukki opening the door.   
  
“Kuroo,” he looked the other up and down, “what happened to you?” A growling Tadashi looked out from between his legs.   
  
Kuroo laughed awkwardly.   
  
“Well you see, my mother's birthday is coming up and I thought it would be a good idea to make cookies according to the family recipe but uhhh, as you may know I’m not a born baker so uh,” he vaguely gestured down himself and back up again, “can you help me so I don’t give my mother food poisoning?”   
  
“Sure.” Tsukki said in a breath-caught-in-his-throat-sort-of-a-way.   
  
_ Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes _ !   
  
“Bring Tadashi, I think he and Kenma get along now.”   
  
  
——   
  
Bringing Tadashi was a mistake as it turned out because the two pets growled and hissed at each other on sight as if the truly adorable playdate last time had never fucking happened.   
  
Damn kids.   
  
“Oi Kenma, back off!” Kenma continued scratching and hissing at Tadashi though, who yelped in high notes but pushed Kenma off with his paws.   
  
Tetsuro was just about to separate the two physically when Tadashi threw himself onto his back and started wagging his tail enthusiastically, and Kenma started pawing at him, kneading his face truly, but at least without claws this time.   
  
_ Huh _ . Those two had an odd way of playing.   
  
Tsukki made his way into the kitchen, looking at the mess made there (definitely genuine, not set up at aaaaaaall), and the loose, well worn paper that the recipe was on.   
  
“I don’t know if I should get access to your family secrets.”   
  
Kuroo waved him off. “Nah it’s fine, it’s not in good hands with me, I’d rather have someone take care of it who knows what they’re doing.” He leaned over the kitchen counter, closing in on Tsukki’s face, and said in a low voice,   
  
“And from what I’ve seen you know exactly what you’re doing.”    
  
Tsukki swallowed visibly, looking like a deer in the headlights.   
  
God this was fun.   
  
——   
  
Baking, as it turned out, was also fun.    
  
Something about it made Tetsuro feel like a kid again, baking with his mom for the holidays.   
  
And happy. He was so incredibly happy.

 

The most amazing part about baking was harassing Tsukki as he did his work.

 

Tsukki had brought his own scale and measuring cups and even several sizes of measuring spoons (for spices apparently), trusting that Tetsuro didn’t own any of those.

 

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Kuroo cooked with his HEART, not with science.

 

He told Tsukki as much, who pulled a disapproving grimace at him which made Tetsuro laugh loudly.

 

(In Tsukki’s defense though, Tetsuro’s cooking turned out more adventurous than successful half of the time unless he was cooking for Kenma. Not that Tsukki needed to know any of that.)

 

Tsukki stirred the butter that was melting in its pot.

 

“Aren’t you the chemist between the two of us? Shouldn’t  _ you _ be the one that works with precise measurement and embarrassingly accurate instructions?” The butter had apparently been melted enough, and Tsukki poured the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and other important ingredients in it.

 

“Well if I’m not going to be graded on it I’m not gonna put any effort into it.” He dipped his finger into the sugary mix and got smacked on the hand for it. “Baking is a matter of the heart and not the sciences.”

 

“That is so wrong in so many ways and keep your fingers out of my dough you disgusting person.”

 

“What? Don’t like me fingering you?” Kuroo said with a cheeky grin.

 

Tsukki sputtered and turned bright red and accidentally smacked the bowl of flour they had prepared onto the floor.

 

Okay, maybe Tetsuro would have to turn it down a bit with the explicit humor. He  _ would _ need to have actual cookies in the end.

 

“Do we uh want to-” Tsukki said, in a high voice, then coughed and caught himself, “Do we want to add something like peanut butter or so into it?”   
  
Tetsuro shook his head. 

 

“Nah, my mom is allergic to nuts, so no can do.”

 

Tsukki nodded too much and still had a slight blush on his cheeks. Tetsuro felt somewhat guilty for making him feel awkward but was also enjoying it wholeheartedly.

 

“Okay, okay. That makes things easier.” Tsukki prepared another bowl of flour and surprisingly much salt (“trust me on this I have been doing this all my life, I know what I’m doing”) and baking soda and mixed that into the wet goodness of the sugar mix. “What sort of chocolate chips did you want to use?”

 

Tetsuro looked at the selection on the table. In his impromptu attempt to make the kitchen as much of a mess as possible he had gotten every variation of chocolate chips the store had offered. After all, the cookie present idea was a last-minute decision so he’d have an excuse to get Tsukki into his household. The actual present for his mom was a potted plant since she liked to collect those.

 

She would enjoy the cookies though, he was sure.

 

“She  _ loves _ dark chocolate, so these.” He said, holding up a packet of 70% chocolate chips.

 

Tsukki nodded like a normal person this time and held up a packet of Dark, but not quite that dark chocolate chips.

 

“If we use dark chocolate we would have to add more sugar, we can skip that if we use these. Put in four cups.”

 

Tetsuro nodded and then poured them straight in without breaking eye contact with Tsukki and hiding the sleazy grin on his face.

 

“What- no- what did I just-!”

 

Tetsuro put the packet back down.

 

“That’s enough.” He said with self-satisfaction.

 

 “You know what?” Tsukki said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “No need to be so shy now,” his voice dropped by a lot and the eye contact he made with Kuroo was BURNING, “you can go  _ all in _ Kuroo.”

 

Tetsuro swallowed thickly and emptied the packet into the dough.

 

Man, this boy had POTENTIAL. And Tetsuro wanted to  _ use it _ .

 

God this was fun. They should bake every day.   
  
And cook.   
  
They should have potlucks and shared breakfast and make animal dinner together and maybe open a restaurant so that they had an excuse to share a kitchen every hour of the day every day and maybe when the heat got too much they could go to the supply closet and release some of that tension until they were ready to serve guests again and-

 

“So the recipe calls for a fridge time of… three days.”

 

_ Wait what? _

 

“Three days?” Tsukki nodded and pointed at the place in the recipe where it said that. “I didn’t see that. Why didn’t I see that? My mom’s birthday is the day after tomorrow I don’t  _ have _ three days.”

 

“It’s fine,” Tsukki said, looking through Tetsuro’s drawers for something, “the fridging time will add to the flavour, but it won’t be  _ bad _ if we shorten or even skip it. As much as one hour in the fridge can already make a difference.” He opened another drawer and got glad wrap out, then he looked at the time on the oven and said, “we can do like one, one-a-half, maybe two hours even before we have to go to practice. Or we fridge it over practice and you do the baking yourself.”

 

Tetsuro thought quickly. Tsukki evidently wasn’t going to come back to finish the job after practice, and he himself had plans the next day, so it needed to happen  _ soon _ .

 

And he feared that if they were done now there would be no reason for Tsukki to stay any longer.

 

“One hour should be good yea.” Tsukki nodded and was about to cover the dough with glad wrap when Tetsuro stopped him again. 

 

“But something important first.” He stole some dough out of the bowl again.

 

Tsukki hit him with the glad wrap package.

 

“Stop doing that, you’re just going to get hit for it.”

 

Tetsuro suppressed a comment of ‘I’m always a slut for a little platonic bdsm’, considering Tsukki’s earlier reaction. Tetsuro didn’t want to test his luck with the longevity of his bowls, so he just shrugged.

 

Tsukki closed the fridge door and took out his phone.

 

“A one-hour timer then.”   
  
“Yea, yea, a timer.”

 

God and then what? An hour of something,  _ something _ . And he needed to decide FAST before things turned awkward in the silence.

 

He clapped his hands together to gather himself.

 

“Is there any shows you watch?”

 

\-----

 

Tsukki was different to Ayumi in a lot of ways.

 

For one, Ayumi  _ despised _ anime as a whole and had refused to give it a chance. Tsukki, on the other hand, upon being asked if he watched shows responded with,

 

“Well, I’ve been meaning to catch up with ‘run with the wind’ honestly.”

 

Which, you know, Tetsuro had been meaning to as well.

 

It felt like fate in a way.

 

By the time Haiji had tricked all his roommates into running for him despite their reservations, the two of them had had a solid good few laughs comparing the ten lead characters to people they knew in their personal lives, especially teammates.

 

Tsukki specifically pointed out that Haiji’s smart manipulation of friends and potential teammates gave him ‘strong Kuroo vibes’, to which Tetsuro took mock offense because ‘but I’m always a good person’.

 

They had squeezed in a few more episodes into their ‘hour’ than was intended, but they still had time until practice and more fridge time was better as Tsukki had said.

 

Kuroo preheated his oven according to Tsukki’s instructions (which were different from the instructions in the recipe), and Tsukki prepared an oven pan to put the cookies on.

 

“And then you take about two tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball… like this, and then you rip it in half and squeeze the two halves together and put them on the pan.” Tsukki instructed.

 

Tetsuro looked at him in disbelief for a bit. 

 

“And why exactly do we need to rip them?” He asked.

 

“They taste better with an uneven surface, trust me on this.” 

 

“A-ha.” Tetsuro said skeptically but followed the instructions nonetheless.

 

If nothing else, ripping the little dough balls in half was fun to do and also somewhat fun to look at.

 

Once the baking pan was full there was an awkwardly little amount of dough left, and Tetsuro was about to grab it for himself, exclusively to piss Tsukki off, when his hand was smacked again.

 

“Stop eating raw dough, do you  _ want _ to get salmonella?” He asked. 

 

“I like to live life on the edge, as you know.” Tetsuro responded as he watched Tsukki take what must be about half a cookie worth of dough out of the bowl, and divide it in half.

 

“If you’re already craving a stomach ache, eat this and tell me how salty you think it is.” He said, offering Tetsuro one of the halves.

 

Now, without intending to come across as lewd, because Tetsuro was  _ quite _ close with his friends, especially Bokuto and Akaashi whom he spent the most time with, Tetsuro didn’t take the dough into  _ his own hands _  but instead took Tsukki’s fingers into his mouth.

 

He didn’t even notice the implication if his actions until he heard a weak gasp from the other. While he was in his compromising position though he decided to ride the train he was already on and may as well look at the other with hooded eyes.

 

Who promptly turned bright red again.

 

“Just salty enough I say.” He answered, moving back into his own personal space.

 

Tsukki looked at him a bit longer, still wide-eyed, before he caught himself, coughed to collect his thoughts, and then propped the last of the dough into his own mouth.

 

He nodded an unnatural amount of time as he tasted, then nodded more naturally after a moment.

 

“Yea can use more salt.”   
  
“More?” Tetsuro said in disbelief.

 

“As I said, trust me, I’m the professional here.” Tsukki assured, before spreading more salt on top of the cookies on the pan.

 

Tetsuro raised his eyebrows at the other. Worst comes to worst he would have an excuse to force Tsukki to come back after training, but for now, he would remain skeptical until the cookies were done and he had tasted them himself.

 

“Well, you can put them in the oven now. I’m gonna use your toilet.”

 

Tetsuro nodded. “We have the same layout, so you should know where it is.

 

As soon as he closed his oven door and set the timer he got a text.

 

Tsundere friend, (6:33 pm): I AM VERY CONFUSED AND I NEED ADVICE

 

Well, the all caps were concerning so he may as well take the time.

 

You, (6:33 pm): shoot

 

Tsundere friend, (6:35 pm): I HAD MY FINGERS IN HIS MOUTH. MY FINGERS HOW DO I DEAL WITH THAT??

 

Tsundere friend, (6:36 pm): I BARELY /TOUCHED/ HIM BEFORE AND NOW HE FLIRTS WITH ME??? I THINK WHAT DO IT DO??

 

Well. Looks like Tetsuro would have to dial down the full-on offense for the time being. He didn’t want to scare away the innocent virgin if he could help it.

 

But at least he had confirmation on the owner of the number now, which was something.

 

You, (6:36 pm): flirt back?

 

Tsundere friend, (6:37 pm): YOU KNOW I CAN’T DO THAT HE’S TOO HOT

 

Tsundere friend, (6:39 pm): HE’S OLDER THAN ME AND HE’S HAD A GIRLFRIEND HE HAS !!EXPEREINCE!! TETSU HE’S WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE AND I’M AN INNCONENT VIRGIN THAT CAN’T KEEP MY FUCKING FACE STRAIGHT WHEN HE MAKES A SUGGESTIVE COMMENT

 

Tsundere friend, (6:41 pm): god using all caps feels weird. I supppse this is what the idiot shrimp felt like when he got his crush

 

Tetsuro had to breathe very deeply. From what he could tell, ‘idiot shrimp’ was Hinata, the little beam of sunshine that had been training with them these last few days.

 

And one half of the couple that Tsukishima  _ himself _ considered soul mates.

 

And now he considered the two of them to be in those exact same shoes.

 

Tetsuro had to put serious effort into finding an appropriate answer instead of freaking out with all his doki doki feelings.

 

You, (6:46 pm): well if you know that he likes you that is at least a good start. You don’t need to jump his bones immediately or confess your desire to be chained up, but knowing your desires aren’t completely onesided helps you feel?

 

Tsundere friend, (6:47 pm): i want more than just sex though Tetsu

 

Tetsuro breathed very deeply at that to not throw his phone across the room in ecstasy or start screaming loudly.

 

You, (6:48 pm): one step at a time. There is no need to rush any of this

 

\-----

 

The cookies were done and there were no more texts from “tsundere friend” and Tsukki was still in the bathroom.

 

Tetsuro strongly doubted that Tsukki had used the bathroom for its intended purpose in the first place.

 

He knocked.

 

“If you’re done blocking my bathroom there are cookies to taste test!”

 

Tsukki opened the door.

 

“Sorry, I-”   
  
Kuroo waved him off before he could make a half-hearted excuse.

 

“If you’re taking a long time in my bathroom I don’t even  _ want _ to know what you did in there. Now come, cookies need eating.”

 

He couldn’t see Tsukki’s face as he turned around but he could hear him following along.

 

The cookies were  _ steaming _ off the pan and they looked absolutely  _ delightful _ .

 

Tetsuro took one to taste but burned his fingers and dropped it back onto the pan.

 

Tsukki, who must be of dragon blood or something, took a different one in his hand and broke in open with all the calm in the world.

 

The steam that poured out of the opened cookie looked  _ amazing _ and if Tetsuro’s fingers didn’t still hurt from the first cookie he would have stolen a half.

 

“They’re still slightly gooey on the inside,” Tsukkie said, a content smile on his face and steam rising into his nose as he smelled the cookie, “just how cookies are supposed to be.”   
  
Tetsuro knew next to nothing about baking, but he sure could spot an angel when he saw one.

 

“Wanna try?” Tsukki offered, holding one half of the cookie, steaming significantly less now, in Tetsuro’s direction.

 

Tetsuro accepted the cookie thankfully and suppressed all sorts of flirtatious comments.

 

The cookie was amazing.

 

“Honestly I had expected it to be more salty after you put a full teaspoon of it inside and then sprinkled even more on top.”

 

“I  _ did _ tell you that I knew what I was doing.” Tsukki answered, a cheeky grin on his face, and a sly wink in his eye before he caught himself and hid his face by nibbling on the cookie in his hand.

 

Tetsuro was positively  _ overflowing _ with happy emotions. 

 

He had felt them before. With other people, and concerning some of those he still harboured those sorts of feelings. But here, they were different somehow.

 

Stronger.

 

_ Brighter _ .

 

He felt as though he had made a new experience which gave him a level up and now his body, heart, and soul were stronger and improved for it.

 

He hoped, one day in the future, he would be able to give those sort of feelings back.

 

“Thank you, Tsukishima. My mother is going to love these.” He said, feeling calmer and happier than he had in a very long time.

 

“What’s with you,” Tsukki mumbled into his cookie, blushing brightly and hiding it terribly, “are you alright?”   
  
“Just peachy.” Tetsuro answered, beaming with all his face and heart.   
  
———   
  
Tetsuro swore he tried to smile nicely as he approached Hitoka at practice later that day. He must have not looked as convincing as he felt because the poor girl was positively pissing herself with fear.   
  
“We need to talk about Tsukki.” He tried in a gentle voice.   
  
“O-oh? B-but pr-practice is s-starting so s-soon and oh I have to g-go now-”   
  
He placed a hand on her shoulder in a firm grasp, smile never falling off his face. After all, if he was already playing the role…   
  
“You gave Tsukki my number to text, didn’t you?”   
  
Hitoka nodded and shook with her entire body.   
  
“And you didn’t feel the need to tell either of us despite knowing that we liked each other.”   
  
“W-well, u-uhm…”    
  
Tetsuro was taking pity on the poor girl and released his hold on her.   
  
“It’s alright, go on.” Tetsuro said reassuringly to Hitoka, who didn’t look as reassured as he would have liked. Damn threatening presence of his.   
  
“W-well you s-see…” Hitoka swallowed and caught herself somewhat. “Originally he just told me about you as a neighbour, so I didn’t know who you were. I just gave him your number because I thought you two would get along, and our friends had moved away and Kei struggles with making friends you see.”   
  
Behind them, at the back of the gym, there was competitive hooting between an annoying owl and a small, bright crow who seemed to be celebrating something. Their tall, quiet, attractive companions made comments that didn’t carry across the gym but made the loud guys shut up.   
  
Behind Kuroo, Hitoka continued very quietly, “well and if you two hooked up maybe it would help you get over Ayumi and him maybe figure out his newfound gayness I don’t know.”   
  
Hitoka bowed deeply then, startling Tetsuro with her enthusiasm and saying way too loudly, “I’m sorry I didn’t know and I only found out recently and I didn’t mean it to be a bad thing I swear!!”   
  
Tetsuro shushed her, not comfortable with all the attention in the gym being on them now, after all, he wasn’t exactly angry at her.   
  
“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s good actually that you know, I could use your help with a plan.”   
  
Hitoka looked up at him with big, curious eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you enjoyed hte baking scene you can thank my beta's for this who demanded i'll actuallly write it after i jsut skipped over it at first
> 
> also i watched like, so many baking videos, learned a lot. for example that like one maybe two of my favourite coooking channel actually has chocolate chip cooky videos. so then i binge watched one of my favourite channels cause its two guys cooking and i love their dynamic
> 
> uhhhhh, eat some food and treat yoruself and have a good time. louie out


End file.
